Westside Hotbread, Foxy’s Bakery crowned Southern Downs’ best bakery
After an extremely close competition, two Southern Downs bakeries have taken the cake, tying for first place. See the winners and runners up here.
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It seems Southern Downs residents found themselves overwhelmed by the region’s wide array of baked delights, with our best bakery poll revealing a tie for first place.
After a tight race between multiple nominees, Westside Hotbread in Warwick and Foxy’s Bakery in Stanthorpe share the crown for the region’s best bakery in 2024.
Making the tree-change from the coastal Wide Bay to the Southern Downs in 2019, seasoned baker Darren Watts and his wife Jo opened their fourth bakery, Westside Hotbread.
Renowned for its wide selection of breads, Mr Watts said the business now supplies a number of its items to local cafe’s.
Mr Watts said while the hours are long, it’s rewarding seeing satisfied customers leaving with a smile.
While the business might open its doors to eager customers at 6am, Mr Watts has already spent hours baking, having started at 9pm the evening before.
The growth of housing developments in Warwick’s west, along with a lack of competition on that side of town and the short drive to major cities are among the reasons for the soaring success of the business.
“We have customers who come all the way from the Gold Coast to find the exact product they want, because they can’t find it anywhere else,” Mr Watts said.
Mr Watts said having a wide variety of breads is one of the keys to running a successful country bakery.
The business has seen a surge in its daily number of customers, now recording upwards of 300 of a Friday.
Bread aside, some of the bakery’s bestsellers include their variety of meat pies and classic vanilla slice.
A decade ago a Stanthorpe couple took a leap of faith and opened their first business, Foxy’s Bakery, which has only continued to thrive along with the region’s tourism.
The dual best bakery winner isn’t the only award the bakery claimed in 2024, taking home three trophies at the Heritage Bank Royal Toowoomba Show.
Foxy’s Kris Fox was awarded for his renowned pies including the plain steak pie, cauliflower, leek and camembert pie and spinach and feta pastry.
First year apprentice Lilly’s delicious lamingtons also scored her a first place win, and Amanda, known as the bakery’s ‘sweets queen’, won first place for her gourmet doughnuts.
Both Amanda and Lilly were crowned as Champion Feature Product of the Show.
Co-owner Fiona Fox said the pair have remained fuelled by their passionate customers and great staff.
Mrs Fox said while the majority of their trade comes from locals, they do get a number of tourists stopping by over the weekend.
“We find the traditional items sell the best, our steak, bacon and cheese pie is one of our bestsellers along with our sticky buns, gourmet doughnuts and vanilla slice,” she said.
Mrs Fox said the constant flow of returning customers was due to the business remaining consistent with its products and keeping things simple.
For anyone thinking of starting their own bakery, Mrs Fox’s advice is to “not stress about the little things”.
Both businesses are grateful to their loyal customers for their support and to those who voted in this year’s competition.
See the runners up below.
RUNNERS UP
• Ranch Pies | Warwick | Third place
• Steele’s Bakery & Cafe | Warwick | Fourth place
• ZEST Pastries | Stanthorpe | Fifth place
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