From a village in the mountains of Calabria, Italy, the recipes for the bread made by Nonna’s Bakery have been passed down from generations, and across the ocean, to arrive in modern-day Sydney where they are made to perfection. “Since coming to Australia in the 1950s, we’ve taken those traditions and techniques and used them, first at Vieto Bakery, which my dad’s mum owned with her brothers, and now here,” explains Tony Sergi.
“Seeing where this business has come from – I was seven years old in 2005 when my parents started Nonna’s, making pizza bases from the garage – and to watch it grow from what it was to what it is now,” Tony reflects. “Going from pizza bases in a garage to being in our first factory unity and making traditional Italian bread. Dad didn’t let product leave this place, or start supplying shops with bread, until the quality was what he expected to bring home.”
Today that quality bread is distributed nationwide. “We supply our fresh products all around Sydney, Wollongong, and as far as Canberra. Our par-baked products are sent all over Australia; we’ve got distributors in Queensland, Adelaide, and now in Perth – pretty much all over,” Tony states. “We’re appreciative of our customers and clients, like Earlwood Growers Market. The boys there are like family to us. We’ve got a couple of others who have been with us since the beginning, since we were at Vieto, and some that have been with us close to 20 years.”
With bread made in four distinct categories – Classico, Originale, Par-Baked and Gluten Free – Nonna’s bread is “very versatile”. “There’s a bread for every application, it all depends on what you’re after. We’ve got our traditional, core Nonna’s products that are high hydration, long fermentation, which is your traditional, ridgey-didge recipes, and then we’ve got our sourdough with no artificial sours in there.”
“We try to make it like a big family here [at Nonna’s]. It’s all about teaching our bakers the processes. This is not your normal, run-of-the-mill bakery. We do things very different: there’s no corners cut. Even with the Turkish bread and the French baguettes, we’re still using our Nonna’s techniques and putting our Nonna’s twist on them and making them our own. It’s all about bringing that difference. And this place runs 24-7: there’s always someone here, there’s always bread being made. It doesn’t stop!”
