Bakery in dire straits after electrical failure destroys $150K of food
The owner of one of Brisbane’s most successful hospitality businesses faces losing his popular wholesale bakery and patisserie after an electricity outage destroyed around $150,000 in food.
The Kneadery, owned by chef Shannon Kellam, lost over $150,000 worth of baked goods, pastries, breads, and other stock on Monday after electricity was cut to their production facilities in the Mercedes-Benz building in Newstead due to flooding.
“We’ve got power off so we’re going to lose most of our stock and produce and most of our prep,” Mr Kellam said.
“You’re talking about 500sqm of cold storage that’s full of product that runs our shop and our wholesale.”
On Monday, the landlords tried to find a semi-trailer-sized generator to power the facility but were unsuccessful.
In addition to the power outage, the roller door accessing the building had broken, meaning Mr Kellam wasn’t able to get his vans out of the building to try and salvage all the stock, leaving staff to move some stock by hand from the third-floor kitchens.
Mr Kellam and his wife Clare were not sure if their losses would be covered by insurance,
They estimated it would cost them over $200,000, and a team of 30 chefs to start again.
“The issue we’ve got is because everything is artisan made and we make things in volume … it would take about two weeks of a brigade of 30 chefs to be back to where we are now, so that cost right there – wages, food costs, everything – you’re looking at replacement costs of over $200,000 and I don’t know how we can do that,” Mr Kellam said.
There will be a bake sale at Kellam’s Bowen Hills King St Bakery cafe on Tuesday, 1 March from 9am to try to sell around 5000 handmade pies, sausage rolls and pasties that they managed to save from the production facility.
Irit Jackson, 1st March 2022
