Story
Rising above
After two decades, Carême’s signature light and buttery pastry remains the heavyweight of the Australian food scene, with good reason.
words Heidi HELBIG
PHOTOGRAPHY pete thornton
The ‘crème de la crème’ of pastry has always had a very Barossa flavour, and Claire Wood wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Saying ‘Carême from the Barossa’ sends a signal that it’s quality, and the support we’ve had in the region has been massive,” says Claire.
“So many people want to see us succeed, and I don’t know that we would have got that in the industrial suburbs of Adelaide!
“The Barossa is a really wonderful place to bring people.”
As a darling of the gourmet food industry, Carême has graced the nation’s most illustrious tables, from the MasterChef kitchen to premium restaurants.
It’s a far cry from humble beginnings, when Claire’s former husband William crammed an esky with frozen pastry and hit the road in their Peugeot 306.
“William went around to all the chefs he knew – Toby (Gush) at Chianti, Jolleys’ Boathouse, Penny’s Hill at McLaren Vale and David Swain, of Fino fame,” says Claire.
“They all came back and said ‘we love it’ and that’s when we went, ‘gosh, there might be an opportunity here.’
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself – it doesn’t feel like 20 years, it feels like five minutes. But when I stop and think about where we started, I realise we’ve come a long, long way.”
While raising young daughters Florence and Elena, Claire and William spent the early years of the Tanunda-based business perfecting the art of premium butter puff pastry for the food service and retail channels.
“Puff pastry is the most technical, time consuming pastry to make and William recognised most chefs don’t have the opportunity to practise those skills in restaurant kitchens or have the time to make themselves in-house,” says Claire.
“I came from premium wine and that was a great background to slide over to premium food. My job at Two Hands took me travelling around the world selling wine, so I started to explore that category in retail in other countries to see how the product was packaged and presented.”
Amid growing demand from Australian consumers for premium products, Carême’s buttery, handmade, preservative-free option quickly gained traction.
Finding national distributors was a game-changer, and as their market share rapidly increased, Claire and William successfully upscaled without compromising the integrity of their product.
“Our very first distributor in Brisbane, John McDonald, was working in fine food supplying restaurants and he rang me one day and said I want to buy a pallet,” recalls Claire.
“We had only been producing for about a month and I didn’t have a clue how to ship a pallet of frozen pastry to Brisbane!
“He ordered 180 rolls – 900 kilos of pastry – and we went ‘yikes’. That was one of those defining moments when we went, this is real.”
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself – it doesn’t feel like 20 years, it feels like five minutes. But when I stop and think about where we started, I realise we’ve come a long, long way”
- CLAIRE WOOD
In what proved to be a masterstroke, Claire and William opened a stall at Barossa Farmers Market, which for six years was a mainstay of the market.
“The biggest barrier was getting people to understand why our pastry was four times the price of commercial brands, and the way to overcome that was to get it into people’s mouths,” says Claire.
“We inherited a commercial oven in the kitchen where we started, so we said ‘let’s bake’. As soon as we did that, the price point disappeared.”
Their chocolate, apple and almond cream turnovers were sought after by local and interstate visitors alike, and from there the offering grew to include their signature lemon cream tart.
“People flocked to our stall and bought us out in an hour. We were blown away – people were eating them then and there from the bag!” says Claire.
“Our stall became quite a centrepiece at the time; it was like a cellar door, and it became our community.
“I’ve always said the Farmers Market is an incubator for new food businesses, and it was brilliant for us.”
With growing affiliations and endorsements, Carême’s profile hit new heights in 2013 when William delivered a masterclass for MasterChef contestants at Murray Street Vineyards at Greenock.
“MasterChef was perfect timing for our growth,” says Claire. “The people behind the scenes who developed the challenges are all food industry people; we didn’t pay for any of those endorsements, and we are forever grateful.”
With William departing the business three years ago to pursue other opportunities, Claire continues to hold the mantle as co-owner with two silent partners, ensuring the business remains firmly entrenched in the Barossa.
With a wide range of puff and shortcrust options, Carême now supplies restaurants, cafes and caterers across the country and boasts contracts with Australia’s two largest retailers, Coles and Woolworths, also exporting into east Asia.
From dough technicians to recipe developers and food stylists, the 30-strong staff at Carême continue to be the backbone of the business.
“My feet are very firmly on the ground, and I’m very aware of the contribution of our staff to get this product out the door looking and tasting amazing!” says Claire.
Many staff continue to grow their careers beyond Carême, something Claire is incredibly proud of.
“One standout is Cheryse Zagler, a former patisserie apprentice during our early baking days, who has gone on to become a highly regarded pastry chef in her own right. Cheryse continues to shine with the recent opening of her own Patisserie and Farm Shop at Kaesler Wines,” says Claire.
“Food manufacturing is a tough game, but I absolutely think there is still plenty of scope for creativity and for new products to be developed.”
