Pie & Pastry Paradise

Discovering Pie & Pastry Paradise in Hervey Bay

National Baking Industry Association recently chatted to, Jodie and Nic Berkhout, owners of Pie & Pastry Paradise about their European baking influences and their vast collection of baking awards.

Jodie and Nic have been operating their award-winning bakeries Pie & Pastry Paradise in the seaside town of Hervey Bay, Queensland for more than 20 years. The business started out with one shop front in Hillyard Street, Pialba in 2001 before moving to their current location in October 2010 in Main Street Pialba and has now expanded into an additional two locations at Elizabeth Street, Urangan in August 2017 and The Esplanade, Scarness in February 2022.

Nic’s father and grandfather originally from Dordrecht in Holland (began baking in 1902) then migrated to the Australia in 1968 bringing with them strong European flavours and baking techniques. After settling on the Fraser Coast these flavours and techniques were passed down through four generations to Nic who has utilised them to build the multi-award-winning brand we know today as Pie & Pastry Paradise.

Nic who worked in the building industry prior to making a career change to qualify as a baker, has more than 30 years of baking experience. As a result of his career choices he is highly skilled with his hands and his love of food and agility in flavour and taste trends is what he claims as the reason why their business is so successful and popular with the locals.

Pie & Pastry Paradise serve a wide array of European treats including Danishes, French vanilla slice, bee stings, choc fudge brownies, baked custard tarts, and their 72-hour traditional sourdough bread which is extremely popular with the locals, you have to be quick to buy it before it sells out. The business is also highly renown for their award-winning pies which have taken out a swag of medals at the Official Great Aussie Pie Competition.

While Nic bakes up a storm in the kitchen, Jodie manages the staff and business side of things and with a team of 36 locals across three stores, they also offer catering services and serve barista coffee to go with the delicious European styled baked goods. The business has also received many non-baking related awards such as twice consecutive winner (2021 and 2022) of the Fraser Coast Business & Tourism Awards in Retailing, endorsing the fact that Nic and Jodie run a tidy business.

Their advice for people contemplating opening a baking business is to ensure you have a clear vision in mind and to follow it through. A tip for those already operating is to take the time to calculate your profit margin and don’t to be afraid to adjust prices if required.

If you are looking to try a delicious European style treat from Pie & Pastry Paradise and happen to be in the Hervey Bay area, we recommend trying the three pies that bought home medals in the 34th Official Great Aussie Pie Comp: Pepper Steak Pie (silver), Chunky Steak Pie (bronze), and the Steak & Mushroom Pie (bronze).