Paddock to plate: Chapleys celebrate 70 years in business with vision for new ‘farm to fork’ supermarket

The Chapleys have won global plaudits for their gourmet supermarkets, and now they have plans for a new store based on the family’s “farm to fork” roots.

Nick Chapley and son Spero, who run the award-winning Foodland Frewville and Pasadena supermarkets. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

They’ve pioneered the rise of Adelaide’s world-leading gourmet supermarkets, and now the Chapley family is pushing the boundaries even further with plans for a new store based firmly on its “farm to fork” roots.

Marking his 70th year in business, Nick Chapley, affectionately known as Mr Nick, has unveiled his vision, which involves the development of a new gourmet supermarket integrated with an on-site urban farm.

Son and business partner Spero said the duo were looking for a greenfield site to build the new store, while also exploring the idea of introducing in-store farming at the family’s award winning Frewville and Pasadena Foodland supermarkets.

The Burwood Brickworks Shopping Centre in Melbourne’s east opened in 2019 with a new rooftop farm.

“We’re looking at ways to bring in on-site small pod gardens, which is happening around the world - to have our chefs walk out of the kitchen and pick some herbs off the garden - it’s a really good story,” he said.

“It will definitely be an integrated approach - it (farm production) could be on the roof, it could be adjacent or part of the car park, it could be in-store vertically - pod farming or vertical farming can mean many things.

“It creates a vibe and it’s visually impressive as well, and it opens up a conversation about energy savings - whether that’s water, power or what not.”

Nick Chapley is celebrating 70 years in retail.

For Mr Nick, it’s a return to the past, when as a teenager he worked at his father’s cafe in the small NSW town of Moulamein.

“My father for ten years was running a market garden,” he said.

“When we got the cafe all of our herbs were grown there, most of our tomatoes were grown there, we had a chook house so most of the eggs for the cafe were from there - we had about 300 chooks - from the chook’s bum to your plate.

“It’s part of our culture.”

The Chapleys are known for redefining the supermarket experience for customers, with the line up of live music, events, in-store dining and other offerings at Frewville and Pasadena winning global plaudits.

They are currently working with the SA Tourism Commission to develop a new calendar of events, and in the coming weeks will begin tours - led by the father-son duo - of the two award-winning stores.

“If you want to get an experience in seafood in South Australia you have to jump in a small plane or 4WD and drive out to Port Lincoln, so to have something like that in metropolitan Adelaide, where you can come and get a fish and seafood story and connection - the tourism commission is very excited about that,” Spero said.

A rooftop farm at the top of the Bank of America tower in Hong Kong. Picture: Anthony Wallace

Spero said he was also exploring a potential expansion of Youth Inc. - the training organisation he established in 2006 to provide education pathways for young people who have disengaged with the traditional school system.

Mr Nick said supporting the community was at the heart of the family’s business ethos.

“While the big supermarkets are cutting customer service, we’re looking for new ways to

employ more people because we’re here to provide a return on investment to our

customers, staff and suppliers, not shareholders,” he said.

“Us, our staff and customers, we’re all a family. We work together and we try to create an atmosphere for staff and customers that’s like their home.”

Originally published as Paddock to plate: Chapleys celebrate 70 years in business with vision for new ‘farm to fork’ supermarket