Husband and wife patisserie team joined by second generation as sons take up their skillsets
/Celebrating its 30th birthday as this issue goes live, Gumnut Patisserie is a family owned business with two generations of pâtissiers working in its kitchens. Started by husband and wife team Tracy and Vicki Nickl, who have since been joined by their sons Josh and William, the story of Gumnut is one of hard work, dedication and commitment to preserving the skillset of the pâtissier – while at the same time celebrating some of Australia’s traditional cake and pastry favourites. Foodservice Rep caught up with all four Gumnut family members to get a glimpse inside its operations.
Josh, Tracy, Vicky aNd William Nickl
Tracy and Vicki met when both were working at the Sheraton Sydney’s pastry kitchen, through which all staff were rotated. Vicki was doing her apprenticeship there, while Tracy had already done his at Victor’s Swiss Patisserie prior to joining the group. “We fell in love and decided to get married,” Tracy remembers. “Vicki was working nights and I was working days, and we realised that wasn’t going to work, so we started up our own business, which was Gumnut.”
Made fresh each morning
The business is based in the NSW Southern Highlands midway between Sydney and Canberra. There are three stores, in Mittagong, Bowral and Berrima – “each was opened to take the pressure off the other, but we found we got a whole new market in each town,” Vicki tells us.
The cakes and pastries are an eclectic mixture of classical European pastries and much loved Aussie favourites like nenish tarts and custard tarts. “When we did our apprenticeships in the late 1980s/early 1990s, pastry was a standalone trade,” Vicki explains, “and a lot of our product range is based on the European classics.
“Our range is a mix of pastries that many Australian households would be familiar with”
“Everything is made fresh every morning in our central kitchen facility at Mittagong,” Tracy adds. “I personally go to Bowral every day and put the product on the shelves – that way I can make a final check and eliminate any issues before it goes out to the customers.”
In addition to the standard range, the team is always playing around with different ideas: “Every fortnight we’ll do two specials over Friday, Saturday and Sunday – we cycle them over two weeks because we have a lot of customers who will see things on our socials and then come down the following week to buy them, so we run them across two weekends,” Vicki says. “We do a lot of old time favourites like lamingtons, fruit tarts and caramel slices – we have customers coming in and saying ‘I remember when my parents or grandparents bought those for me’ and they will now buy them for their grandkids. Our range is a mix of pastries that many Australian households would be familiar with, plus the more high end pastries you find in Europe.”
“We do a lot of old time favourites like lamingtons, fruit tarts and caramel slices”
Siblings follow their parents into the business
The decision to join Tracy and Vicki in the business was an easy one for both their eldest son Josh and youngest William (there are two other siblings in between, neither of whom work in Gumnut). “Mum says I’ve been involved since I was four days old,” Josh says. “I’ve always been in and around the kitchen watching Mum and Dad working day and night to keep the business running through my childhood. I really enjoyed playing with pastry so when I got to my later years of high school I already knew I wanted to be a pastry chef. Mum spent my last two years of high school trying to convince me not to do it – she knew how hard she and Dad had worked in this industry and how challenging it can be, not just with the unsocial hours but also how hard it can be physically.”
Undeterred, Josh did work experience in a bakery and a French patisserie while at high school, which further cemented his determination. “After two years of that Mum gave up and said all right, you can be a pastry chef!”
“When I got to my later years of high school I already knew I wanted to be a pastry chef”
Eventually Will followed Josh’s lead. “We both had the same desire to join the business – there’s eight years age difference between us, Josh is 27 and I’m 19,” Will says. While Josh has been working fulltime in the pastry kitchen for 10 years, Will is currently a second year apprentice – but has been involved almost as long, having started serving customers when he was 11.
Earlier this year, Will won the National WorldSkills Competition for Patisserie and Confectionery – again following in the footsteps of Josh, who won in 2021, and Tracy who won in 1993. However, Will is set to outdo them both by representing Australia as part of the Skillaroo team which will travel to Shanghai next year to compete in the 48th International WorldSkills competition. “Anything Josh does, I have to do either sooner or to the next level,” he says with a touch of friendly sibling rivalry.
Technological advancement plays its part
The whole family is proud of Will’s achievement which exemplifies how well he has honed his skills. “Back when Dad was doing his apprenticeship, pastry was a trade on its own, whereas I completed a retail baking course which combines the pastry and baking side,” Josh explains. “However, we only produce pastry here – no bread – and it really is a skill that should stand alone. I’m constantly learning new things, whether it’s recipe ideas or hands-on skills – there’s lots of evolving technology and new techniques coming mainly out of Europe and the rest of the world follows suit. With access to social media, it’s much easier to keep up with what’s happening in realtime.
“When I finished my apprenticeship I spent eight months on a working holiday across Europe and I worked in some amazing places – chocolate shops in Belgium, the pastry kitchen at Harrod’s food hall in London. One of the pieces of machinery I saw was a water cutter and we’ve since implemented that in our pastry production – it cuts all our cakes and chocolate using pressurised water, like a laser cutter. It’s so precise that none of the product ends up being wet. When we brought that machine into our kitchen it was the third of its kind in Australia, and now there are 500 of them worldwide and about a dozen here. So technological advancement is a big component, but skills too are continually evolving and we’re always learning.”
Product range boasts broad appeal
The humble vanilla slice is Gumnut’s best selling item
Tracy attributes much of Gumnut’s success to the broad appeal of its product range. “Having that happy medium of high end European and Australian classics means there’s something for everyone. Our best selling item would have to be our mille feuille, better known as a vanilla slice, which is quite renowned and lemon tarts are also very popular. We also do a salted caramel tart and a banoffee tart, but we also do lots of viennoiserie – like croissants, Danish and pain au chocolat – along with Aussie pies and sausage rolls. There’s about 200 different products altogether and we have an online store as well.”
“Having that happy medium of high end European and Australian classics means there’s something for everyone”
The local community has embraced Gumnut and is actively celebrating its 30th anniversary. Will says, “in the 30 years Mum and Dad have been operating, they’ve trained over 35 apprentices and we currently have six on the team – it’s a big part of our DNA. A lot of those apprentices have gone on to become fulltime employees – the first one that Mum and Dad trained is still here, she’s coming up for 25 years.
“Out front of our Mittagong shop is a wall of fame where we put up a ‘mug shot’ of each apprentice and when they complete we put a qualified sticker across their chest along with their start and end date. Lately we’ve had people coming in pointing out friends and relatives on the wall of fame – it could be someone who did it 11 years ago! It’s really cool and we’ve had lots of former apprentices go off and do really well – one has a shop in Kiama, another runs Textbook Patisserie in Sydney and another is working at the Hilton in PNG. The second ever apprentice to go through now works as head technological adviser for the bakery side at Lallemand in Holland, and he’s coming in for our 30th birthday to help us celebrate!”
“Out front of our Mittagong shop is a wall of fame where we put up a ‘mug shot’ of each apprentice”
Tracy adds, “I do think all people who work a trade have an obligation and responsibility to train others. Every tradesperson complains about the lack of skills in trainees, but you need to put your money where your mouth is and take on an apprentice. It’s a great reward to train people and see them go on to do well – especially when it’s your own kids who are succeeding!”
Related Articles
