Victoria’s Chef of the Year, Jo Barrett, is closing Little Picket, the one-hat restaurant at Lorne Bowls Club that she opened in the winter of 2022.

Unlike other regional restaurants shutting due to hard times in hospitality, Barrett insists her tale is positive: she is closing to focus on two new projects that she hasn’t been able to juggle with the demands of a busy restaurant.

“Our lease is coming up at the end of April and we have decided not to renew it,” says Barrett, who owns Little Picket with her partner, David Osgood. “It’s not based on anything negative; it’s been fantastic. But there are other opportunities that the time is right to pursue.”

The first initiative is Wild Pie, which will turn feral and native animals into pastry-encased meals. “People like pies,” she says. “They are the most approachable way to introduce wild game into people’s lives and get them to eat more free-range organic food.”

The new company is a partnership between Barrett’s longtime chef-collaborator, Louise Daily, keen hunter and Three Blue Ducks co-founder Mark LaBrooy, and Discovered Wildfoods, a game meat company founded by Billy Staughton and Tara Medina.

Discovered engages licensed hunters to cull sambar deer with a single shot to the head on farmland in the Victorian high country. The carcasses are swiftly chilled and butchered with cuts mostly sent to restaurants.

“We were planning to make pies at Little Picket but we have never had time,” says Barrett. “Now we have a site in Beechworth connected to the Discovered boning room. We will make our own pastry and put meat into pies, which can go into restaurants, plus there will be a small range for people at home.”

There are multiple motivations. Deer are an introduced species that damage native bushland and encroach on farmland. Traditional culling wastes the meat, leaving healthy protein to rot on the ground. “It’s delicious meat, too,” says Barrett.

As well as venison, Wild Pie will use wallaby culled on Flinders Island. The team has recipes ready to go for wild boar and goat. The more pies, the more people can be part of eating a problem: production will begin with 1000 pies a week.

Barrett’s second project is alongside the CSIRO, developing creative, edible ways to use the 456 million loaves of bread wasted in Australia every year. “I’ve been going on my days off to the CSIRO’s innovation lab and working with a scientist,” says Barrett.

“We’ve been able to pay off our equipment, pay everyone, have holidays and come out with a profit. I would say it’s been a success.”

Jo Barrett

Many chefs cover side projects by employing more staff for their restaurants. “I’m not that type of person,” says Barrett. “I’m not at that stage in my career where I would feel OK about having my name on something and stepping away.”

Like any restaurateur, Barrett is happy to admit that hospitality is not easy but she rejects the idea that it’s irretrievably broken.

“I’ve learnt a lot and matured a lot doing Little Picket,” she says. “We did some things that were really smart, especially in terms of utilising an existing site with an already engaged community that supported us and that we let shape us. I feel proud of how we set this up, with humble beginnings.”

Some of the DIY projects have been tiring, though. “We saved money by not having a bookings system and by doing all our own laundry but it’s taken a toll in terms of time,” she says.

“On the other hand, we’ve been able to pay off our equipment, pay everyone, have holidays and come out with a profit. I would say it’s been a success: we are closing on our own terms while we are ahead.”

Wild meat has been an increasing focus for Barrett both personally and professionally, and she’s served quite a bit of it at Little Picket, where her menu has balanced the desires of bowling club members, Surf Coast locals, discerning visitors from Melbourne and Barrett’s desire to use locally grown food from small farmers as well as harvested game.

Surely there’s no other restaurant in Australia that lists venison, rooster and wild boar pie alongside a dim sim that the pennant bowlers requested. “I don’t have an ego around cooking fancy,” says Barrett. “We have amazing pork producers, there was organic cabbage; they wanted a dimmie, we made one.”

When announcing its award winners last October, The Age Good Food Guide applauded the class of 2024 for its commitment to “ethics in action”, sustainable principles and “doing significant things to reduce their environmental impact”.

Barrett sees her big move as steps along this same trajectory. “I love cooking in the restaurant but it’s all-consuming and I can feel quite stretched,” she says. “I can see a way I can make a bigger impact. I feel excited about food and what is coming next.”

Little Picket’s final service will be April 27. It’s fully booked.