Shannon Kellam’s bakery business devastated after electricity outage

The owner of one of Brisbane’s most successful restaurants faces losing his popular bakery business, as an electricity issue cripples his multimillion-dollar facility.

One of Brisbane’s biggest hospitality businesses is at risk of collapse after an electricity outage wiped out around $150,000 in food.

Wholesale bakery and patisserie, The Kneadery, owned by award-winning Montrachet, Bowen Hills chef/owner Shannon Kellam, lost more than $150,000 worth of pastries, breads, baked goods and other stock on Monday after electricity was cut to their multimillion-dollar production facilities in the flood-impacted Mercedes-Benz building in Newstead.

Shannon Kellam faces having to possibly close his successful wholesale bakery The Kneadery after it lost power amid the flood disaster. Picture: Josh Woning

The business supplies Kellam’s beloved French restaurant Montrachet, as well as his neighbouring business King St Bakery, Newstead patisserie and cafe Mica, about 20 wholesale customers including many of Brisbane’s top restaurants, as well as Coles Local stores with their own signature line of products.

“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 500sq m of cold storage that’s full of product that runs our shop and our wholesale.”

The landlords had been trying on Monday to find a semi-trailer-sized generator that would be large enough to power the facility, but were unsuccessful. And to make matters worse, the roller door into and out of the multi-level building had broken, which meant Mr Kellam wasn’t able to get his vans out of the premises to try to save stock. Instead staff were left to bring down all they could by hand from the third floor kitchens.

Inside The Kneadery in Newstead. Picture: Claudia Baxter

Mr Kellam and his wife Clare were unsure if insurance would cover their losses, with the couple estimating it would cost them more than $200,000, and a brigade 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.

Mrs Kellam added, “If we can’t trade, we can’t make money, we can’t pay the bills, and we don’t know when we’ll be able to trade; and if we are covered by insurance, when is that going to come through?” 

The pair will be having a bake sale at their Bowen Hills King St Bakery cafe on Tuesday, March 1 from 9am to try to sell about 5000 handmade pies, sausage rolls and pasties that were able to be salvaged from the production facility and hoped it could help recover some of the massive losses.