Buy Australian: Priestley’s Gourmet Delights’ simple message to Aussie shoppers

Brisbane cake company Priestley’s lost 80 per cent of its revenue streams during the peak of COVID lockdown. Now it’s up to Aussies to help them and businesses like them survive.

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A Brisbane cake company that lost 80 per cent of its revenue stream when COVID-19 hit has called on Queenslanders to support the local hospitality industry.

Priestley’s Gourmet Delights at Morningside was heavily impacted by the closure of many cafes, pubs and restaurants they service across Australia, as was their supply chain.

“COVID-19 had an immediate and profound effect with the restrictions placed on the hospitality industry directly impacting our business,” chief executive officer Ken Hartley said.

Priestley's Gourmet Delights is based at Morningside and is marking 25 years this year. Picture: John Gass

“Our supply chain team were confronted with issues sourcing ingredients and materials as well as rising costs.

“We (had to) dig deep and look for opportunities outside our regular customer base, while working to support our long standing customers.”

Despite Priestley’s being forced to let go staff and parts of their business model having to be restructured, the company remains determined to support other local businesses and have called on Queenslanders to do the same.

“We are still travelling below our pre-COVID levels, but are thankful for being in a sustainable position and better than we were expecting at this time,” Mr Hartley said.

“The support of both our suppliers and customers was integral to managing through this period and we thank them for their support.”

Gourmet Delights. Friday October 16, 2020. Picture: John Gass

Founded in 1995 at Milton, the family-owned and operated business now employs over 150 people Australia-wide, with the majority of those based at their Morningside facility.

“Priestley’s ethos is to simply create happiness for the food businesses we supply, and the consumers enjoying our cake,” Mr Hartley said.

“Customer loyalty to us is a measure of how much happiness we are creating.

“It is pivotal to everything we do.”

Set to celebrate 25 years of operation in December, the business has come a long way from where it began, starting in a 75 sqm bakery at Milton to now operating out of a 4600 sqm purpose-built facility at Morningside.

“Despite our size, we are still very much a family business with care and compassion shared by all in our team,” Mr Hartley said.

“We provide support for local schools and charity groups and we have a buy local first policy, sourcing ingredients from Australian suppliers.

“Our vibrant hospitality industry provides so many jobs and is pivotal to the Australian way of life; (so we) encourage people to continue supporting their local eateries.”

Buy Australian is a News Corp Initiative – in partnership with Woolworths and Australian Made Campaign and supported by Red Energy – to help put money back in to our economy by supporting our producers, makers and manufacturers.

Originally published as Buy Australian: Priestley’s Gourmet Delights’ simple message to Aussie shoppers