The 2025 People First Bank Toowoomba Royal Show was held last Friday, 21st February at the Royal Agricultural Society’s Glenvale Room, Toowoomba Showground.
This prominent event is a highlight in Australia’s baking calendar and brought together a crowd of industry professionals, bakers, and their families for a night of celebration.
With more than 100 attendees at the judging and presentation dinner, the event displayed the artisanal skills in bread and pastry craftsmanship, acknowledging the dedication and skill of bakers from across the region.
This year’s competition saw more than 550 entries delivered last Thursday to be assessed by the panel of experienced judges and their pencillers who evaluated each entry based on volume & appearance, texture & structure, aroma, taste, colour, filling & internal appearance, stability, originality and technical difficulty.
“The quality year was exceptionally high. We had the largest number of judges participate, which is fantastic support from our allied industry. It was also great to see an increase in apprentice entries, showcasing the next generation of talented bakers.” Chris Hurford, judge and trainer at Baking Industry Training Australia.
There were 45 different class categories and the competition was close.Bakers entered a wide range of products including bread rolls, Vienna, French sticks, sandwich blocks, hamburger buns, savoury loaves, pies, pasties, sausage rolls, scones, cupcakes and sponge rolls. Click here to view the full 2025 King of the Bakers results.
Major Award Winners
🥇 Royal Agricultural Society of Queensland – King of the Bakers Championship
🏆 Winner: Born and Bread Bakery
🥇 All About Bakery Equipment – Most Successful Cake Exhibitor
🏆 Winner: Born and Bread Bakery
🥇 Australian Bakels – Most Successful Bread Exhibitor
🏆 Winner: Born and Bread Bakery
🥇 Woolworths Supermarkets Queensland – Most Successful 1st & 2nd Year Apprentice Award
🏆 Winner: Born and Bread Bakery – Bailin
🥇 Woolworths Supermarkets Queensland – Most Successful 3rd & 4th Year Apprentice Award
🏆 Winner: Brumby’s Westridge – Elizabeth
🥇 People’s First Bank – Best Specialty Bread
🏆 Winner: Brumby’s Westridge
🥇 Lesaffre Australia – Champion Loaf (Ron Hudson Memorial Trophy)
🏆 Winner: Born and Bread Bakery
🥇 Mauri – Commercial Bread
🏆 Winner: Twisted Loaf
🥇 Moffat Bakery Equipment Toowoomba Cup (Rod & Helen Stirling Memorial Trophy)
🏆 Winner: Debs Bakery
🥇 EOI Peerless Foods – Best Pastry Exhibit
🏆 Winner: L T T Patisserie
🥇 MOI International (Cec Willersdorf Memorial Trophy)
🏆 Winner: Citron Tarte, Wisteria Café at City Golf Club
🥇 Allied Pinnacle – Regional Shield
🏆 Winner: Born and Bread Bakery
🥇 National Baking Industry Association – Regional Bread Award
🏆 Winner: Born and Bread Bakery
🥇 Manildra Group – Regional Cake Award
🏆 Winner: Born and Bread Bakery
The overall winner was Brad Reeves from Born and Bread Bakery (Toowoomba) who won multiple prestigious awards and shared his excitement with his success.
“We entered this year after a three-year break as we currently have a couple of really good young fellas who were interested in learning more about the industry. We were thrilled with our results! The Toowoomba Bread Show is one of the biggest in Australia, and there is no better way to learn a lot of techniques than this opportunity. It is a lot of extra work on top of our regular production, but it was worth it for our team to have the experience.”
He also acknowledged the dedication and hard work of his team:
“We are very proud of our production team – Michael, Dylan, and our apprentice Bailin, who took out the Most Successful 1st and 2nd Year Apprentice award. We would like to thank the whole team at the Toowoomba Bread Show and the sponsors for their continued support of the baking industry.”
Event organizer Damon Phillips, CEO of the Royal Agricultural Society of Queensland was thrilled with this year’s show. “With a significant increase in numbers, this year’s RASQ King of the Bakers Bread Show was another resounding success. It is a credit to all the bakers who entered, with the quality across the board exceeding expectations. An event of this size could not go ahead without the fantastic support of the baking industry, who not only sponsor the event but turn up to assist with judging and stewarding.”
The Royal Agricultural Society of Queensland would like to congratulate all the entrants, winners and acknowledge the following sponsors for supporting this year’s show. Thank you to the sponsors People’s First Bank, All About Bakery Equipment, Allied Pinnacle, Bakels, Brumby’s Bakery, EOI Peerless Foods, Homestyle Bake, Kee-seal Piping Bags, Lesaffre Australia Pacific, Manildra Group, Mauri, Moffat Bakery Equipment, MOI International, Mr Rod Stirling AM, National Baking Industry Association, TRS Refrigeration & Catering Equipment and Woolworths.
