step inside my bakery

I can’t imagine anywhere else to start my baking journal than with a tour of my bakery, Brooki Bakehouse.

After a trip to Paris last year, I decided I was finally equipped enough to open my own patisserie - come - bakery in the city I live in, Brisbane, Australia.

But owning a bakery wasn’t new for me.

You see, back in 2016 I opened my first baking business, a dessert restaurant in the town I grew up in. I was just 24 years of age with no clue how the hospitality industry worked, and boy did I learn quickly.

Through many successes and failures (thankfully mostly successes) and a busy 3.5 years in the business, I decided to step away. I moved overseas to live in Africa for the foreseeable future, with everything I owned packed into four overweight suitcases. It was quite the polaroid moment.

Then of course, the pandemic happened. After a gruelling eight months trying to get back to Australia, I finally happened upon a flight home. The only catch was that I had to pay for a first class seat (thanks to a rogue regulation by the government to allow only a handful of passengers per aircraft) and consequently spent my savings doing so. But oh boy did I enjoy every last drop of Dom Pérignon on offer.

Fast track a year or so and I realised this experience really changed my outlook on life. Being stuck overseas with no family or even a visa to be there was quite a wake up call. I decided that despite the many challenging factors of the hospitality industry (long hours on your feet, working weekends and most major holidays), I really loved being in the kitchen.

Then I opened my forever bakery, Brooki Bakehouse.

It was a lot easier opening a bakery the second time around, because I had learned from my many mistakes. But. it was also daunting to be doing it again - would I survive the workload after time off? What could I do better this time? Imposter syndrome tried to rear its head but my intuition rose above the noise to remind me that this is what I loved, perhaps more than any other pastime.

I opened the doors to Brooki in May 2022. It was just myself in the kitchen and one casual staff member helping cover the front counter and kitchen hand duties. But soon, all this would change.

Now we have almost ten employees, a second production facility and ship our freshly baked goods across the country.

And the best part? This is just the beginning.