Brett and Shae Mitchell are the unlikely duo bringing Australian baked goods to the community of Roselle, Illinois, through their recently opened bakery, Reds Rolls.

Almost a decade ago, a chance job offer effectively changed the course of Shae and Brett Mitchell’s lives.

The pair, who originally hail from Echuca in Victoria, relocated to Roselle, Illinois, nine years ago after Brett received a job offer from a large airline in the US. The move was meant to be for two years, however, Covid saw them re-evaluating their options, and Brett and Shae – along with two of their three children decided to remain state-side indefinitely.

The issue remained that although Brett and Shae were happy in their new lives they missed the taste of home, and so they set out to remedy the problem.

The duo headed to their home kitchen to make sausage rolls and other Australian specialties to help stave off the homesickness. Each of the baked creations were welcomed by their US friends, and so, after a lot of recipe testing, Brett and Shae made the decision to dive in and open their own Australian-themed bakery – a concept made easier, perhaps, thanks to the fact that Shae’s CV consists of a lengthy hospitality career including time at the iconic Beechworth Bakery.

“We weren’t sure how it would be received, but it’s been positive so far with some very loyal local residents,” Brett said.

Brett and Shae have built a name for their sausage rolls

The bakery, Reds Rolls, was officially opened in September 2025, and although the first few months of business have been much more difficult than they anticipated, Brett said he and Shae are continuing to work towards building a business that will last.

With a firm focus on creating classic Australian bakery staples, you will find items like lamingtons, Anzac biscuits, scones, honey joys, Mars Bar slice and hedgehog slice on the shelves alongside the house-made sausage rolls that Reds Rolls is rapidly becoming known for.

Additionally, a large component of the Reds Rolls business structure includes creating bakery products that are entirely preservative-free – something Brett said is almost unheard of in the US.

“The number of preservatives in the food you get here is horrible; it’s all so processed. We decided early on our bakes would be fresh and preservative-free, which makes it harder,” he said.

“Sausage rolls are what we are becoming known for. We sell six different flavours of sausage rolls: the OG, jalapeno ‘n’ cheese, Philly Cheesesteak, chicken, barbecue and bacon, and Impossible for the vegetarians. The OG is by far the favourite.

“My employer was our first big catering customer, and we made 450 sausage rolls in a day during Employee Appreciation Week [for them]. They were well received and we look forward to doing it again this year.

“I’ve also worked on our own meat pies but I’m just not happy with them, so we teamed up with Aussie Pies and Sausages in California to sell their meat pies.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Brett said it’s taking some time for their US customer base to fully wrap their heads around Australian bakery classics. However, the response from their Reds Rolls regulars has been overwhelmingly positive, and Brett and Shae are already going through the process of building a catering truck to travel to local festivals. It’s a move, he said, that would help to increase the bakery’s presence in the region.

“The response from the US locals has been positive. They are slowly embracing the mighty sausage rolls,” he said.

“Getting the US population to try something new is a massive hurdle in itself. Even explaining how to heat the sausage rolls from frozen – a lot of people don’t understand, but it seems so natural to us having grown up with them. To Americans these are totally new, and they don’t always like new.”