Daughter’s cooking talent was so apparent that Howards bought a bakery
Career changes can happen for myriad reasons. For Corey and Amanda Howard it was an obvious one – to help their teenage daughter realise her potential.
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It’s only natural parents want to do all that they can to help their children. But Corey and Amanda Howard went to the next level when they bought a bakery to support middle child Maylee.
Their decision wasn’t as far-fetched as it may sound at first.
For one thing Corey had a long career in the industry, which began with a pastry cook apprenticeship at Beaumont’s Pies and Cakes.
And Maylee started her Pups Picnic range of baked dog treats when she was just 12 years old.
So when she found herself struggling at school, the bakery seemed a perfect fit for the family.
“School wasn’t for her,” Amanda says. “It’s like, ‘Right, we need to get her out into an environment where she’s going to grow and be nurtured’.”
“She wanted to become an apprentice pastry cook and who better to teach her than dad? Corey adds: “Maylee wasn’t enjoying school, it wasn’t for her, and she has a real love and flair for cooking.”
Everything came together in January when the family – Amanda, a 25-year oncology nurse, helps run front of house – took over Porter Avenue Pies & Cakes in Belmont from the couple who had run it for 32 years.
And the decision was further vindicated this month when the bakery won three gold, seven silver and four bronze medals in Australia’s Best Pie and Pastie competition.
Corey concedes it might have been easier simply to find Maylee an apprenticeship rather than buy a bakery, especially as he and his wife gave up good jobs to do so. But he is adamant that helping their children grow is more important.
Maylee clearly had a flair for baking when she began Pups Picnic. The silver medal she won for her fruit tart at the 2022 Victorian Baking Show sealed the deal for Mum and Dad.
“She’s definitely got a talent for it, she’s always had a love for cooking,” Corey says.
“Amanda and I have given up pretty good jobs and taken a huge risk to do this; definitely would have been easier. But it’s about helping them grow.”
Amanda says now is the time for her and Corey to champion Maylee and help her grow so she can one day take over the bakery
For her part, 16-year-old Maylee says her love of pastry and baking comes from her dad, whom she grew up watching cook. Now they work alongside each other six days a week, starting at about 4am or 5am and usually not finishing until 12 hours later.
Next year, Maylee’s workload will include TAFE classes.
Maylee likes creating the eclairs best, because she can run wild with her imagination (think a hundreds-and-thousands variety with an actual Arnott’s Hundreds & Thousands biscuit on top). She usually has at least five flavours at any one time, and the Biscoff biscuit variety is currently the biggest seller.
“Dad lets me do whatever flavours I come up with,” she says with a laugh.
It’s not strictly a family only business. Long-time friend Belinda Alves helps Amanda serve customers — and also helping with the baking is another long-time friend, Aaron Mills. A former primary school teacher, he met Corey while he was the HR manager at Beaumont’s and now finds himself as a 53-year-old first-year apprentice.
Aaron says he had “a little bit of skill” and would bake cakes for children’s parties. But baking was more of an interest than a vocation until he was approached this year by Corey, who found things getting “a little bit crazy” soon after taking over the bakery.
“We’ve had chats about it over the years. Timing happened to work out really well … this came up and I jumped at it. Best move I’ve made,” Aaron says with a smile.
Another close link helped deliver the family gold at the recent 2022 Australia’s Best Pie competition.
Corey said the original idea when they took over the bakery was to eventually introduce a slow-cooked brisket mac and cheese pie – that was until Corey saw neighbour David Abousejean, who this year started up Geelong Smoked Brisket (GSB) literally out of the garage of his parents’ Highton home.
“Our little window looks right down his driveway and we could see that massive smoker. That’s where it started, I sniffed him out!” Corey says.
The end result was the bakery incorporating GSB smoked maple chicken and caramelised onions in French cultured butter into a pie, and walking away with a gourmet pie gold medal. GSB also helped them win two gourmet pie silver medals and a gourmet pastie bronze.
The Howards also struck gold with their chilli con carne and tuna mornay pies.
Where once it might have only been half a tray of one of their almost 30 different flavoured pies, pasties and sausage rolls, now they’re doing two trays’ worth and 1500 pies a week Sausage roll varieties include chicken kiev, pork and fennel, and cheese and bacon, and Corey recommends Maylee’s vegan lentil bolognese pie for anyone wanting to experience what the bakery has to offer in one easy-to-manage serve.
It’s the increase in sales in less than six months that has been the biggest surprise to the family.
“The people in the area come in and thank us — I’ve never had that before,” Corey says.
“We had no idea it was going to be like this. We’re just doing old-school products — Swiss roles, matchsticks, apple turnovers, pies — and people are responding really well.”
Corey says they dream of creating many more flavours in their pies, but without extra staff it remain just that – dreams.
However, don’t be surprised if one day there’s an eggs Benedict pie, complete with hollandaise sauce and spinach, on the menu.
Just like good pastry, the Howards definitely know how to rise to the occasion.
Porter Avenue Pies & Cakes is open Monday-Saturday at 24 Porter Ave, Highton. Follow @porteravenuepiescakes on Instagram and Facebook.
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