TasWeekend: Hobart bakers Jay and Emma Patey give us our daily bread and a whole lot more

They are renowned as one of Hobart’s best artisan bakers. The couple behind Pigeon Whole Bakers explain the secret to their success.

Emma and Jay Patey, owners of Hobart’s Pigeon Whole Bakers, love being situated in the old Mercury press site in Argyle St. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

GIVEN the breadth of where it’s served, you’ve probably eaten a piece of bread baked by Pigeon Whole Bakers.

It’s a joy. If you frequent their Argyle St premises and have heard co-owner Emma Patey’s laugh, you’ll know that’s an absolute joy as well. It rings in my ears as I ask her what the past 11 years have been like, “a roller coaster!” she says.

In 2008, Jay Patey, then 30, had been working since the age of 16 in front-of-house hospitality and was feeling burnt out. Patey was drawn to the kitchen by the desire to cook. This was coupled with not having a local cafe near where he lived in Goulburn St, West Hobart, and the idea of Pigeon Hole Cafe was born.

Then partner and now wife, Emma thought at the time he was crazy and so did the locals. Jay spent the next three months day and night getting the place ready. “I’d be scraping paint off the windows and people would be walking home at night and say, ‘I wouldn’t bother with that place, it’s never worked’,”.

It did work. Patey puts this down to the fact they didn’t over-complicate things. “Because the space was so small ... the success of the cafe hinged on us baking our own bread and having a small, simple menu”.

The cafe became so popular Emma left her previous job and worked full-time at the cafe.

Two years in and the Pateys took stock of their surroundings. Jay knew he could not sustain cooking in the kitchen six days a week for the rest of his life and was looking for a succession plan. Simultaneously, customers were always asking to buy the sourdough he baked each morning to use on the menu. However, he never sold any of the five to six loaves he baked each day because they were just too precious to him.

At this point, Jay and Emma decided to start baking and wholesaling their sourdough. In 2010 Jay shared a lease on a bakery in Moonah and started producing 50 loaves of sourdough a day. Cooking all day at the cafe, he would then start preparing the bread and bake all night and deliver it to West Hobart’s Hill Street and the Italian Pantry, getting four hours sleep a night before starting on the pans the following morning.

Soon after they began their new enterprise, the Pateys were able to afford to hire two bakers to assist.

Fast forward to 2019 and Pigeon Whole Bakery produces 1000 loaves daily and a host of other artisan pastries and employs more than 40 people in Hobart and Devonport. They love being situated at the old Mercury press site on Argyle St.