Benalla Business Network
Category: Eating In or Out

Bertallis Bakery

 
Open Monday to Friday 7am - 5.30pm
Saturday 7am - 2.30pm
Sunday 8am - 2.30pm
Bertallis Bakery

About Bertallis Bakery


In 1992, the deregulation of the Victorian bread industry meant you could deliver anywhere you wanted in Victoria and we knew the major companies would come up to the country and flood the market with their normal square breads.

We thought we had to come up with a niche market to survive.

The answer was specialist sourdough breads, which they had seen overseas. The Bertallis decided to go to the city where the numbers were greater.

No one was doing sourdough in the supermarkets at that time so we offered original products, rye grain and that sort of thing, Andrew says.

We came out with speciality breads before Helga's did them in supermarkets and they are owned by a big bread company.

Now that the big companies are also doing those breads, the challenge for Bertalli's Alpine brand is to stay competitive.

We have to keep one step ahead and keep bringing out new products one at a time. We try to offer something unique and different that is not on the market yet. We have to find the gap, Andrew says.

Constantly finding new bread ranges would seem a tough challenge for even the largest companies with huge product development departments but this is where Andrew Bertalli's passion for his product comes through.

I find the best time for ideas is when I'm driving the truck, he says, explaining that he is always on the look-out, whether it's at home or when overseas at international bread conventions.

In fact, he got his latest idea for a new bread from seeing the growth in wheatgerm at the successful Boost juice bars. His new sprouted grain bread boasts grains that have been left to sprout and germinate which greatly enhances and enriches the vitamin content, he claims.

In fact, Andrew has come up with so many innovative products he can often be ahead of the market.