When we first started we had four bakers working full time and we supplied wholesale bread to many shops and restaurants around Launceston and the airlines with their onboard catering such as bread rolls and cakes for about 15 years, particularly Ansett. We faced many challenges during this time including the night the hot water cylinder fell through the ceiling in the early hours of the morning spraying water over all the racks prepared for wholesale. Another night in 1999 one of the bakers put the ash from the wood fired oven into a plastic bin which caused it to smoulder for hours before setting fire to the kitchen. On the back wall was a gas cylinder and it had just started to take hold of the wooden floor when the fire brigade came in. We so nearly lost the whole building. We have had many break-ins but one memorable one was when a team of thieves took a large part of the wall out of the room with a safe in it and brought in oxy acetylene with the intention of taking the safe out but fortunately a staff member turned up early for her bread packing shift and they disappeared. The Ingleside building definitely has character can you tell us a little about the history? Built in 1867, in the classically influenced style of public buildings at the time, Ingleside is housed in the former Council Chambers. In the 50's the main chamber was used for dances and there was a stage at the far end which the local school held their performances on. During the 70's it was used as a courthouse, a magistrate would come when there were enough cases to be held locally. Also the Bye Brothers were a travelling movie company who went to country towns and came to Evandale about once a month … I hear many tales from some of the town’s lovely elder residents! The wood fired oven was built to a traditional small and shattel design, of which only a handful of this type have been built this century. The design includes carefully constructed brickwork to retain the heat of a wood fire. The oven contains 25,000 bricks. The old Phoenix Foundry in Launceston originally cast the ironwork, rescued from weeds in a Beaconsfield paddock. One of the special things about Ingleside is
the lovely open wood fire which creates such a wonderful warm and welcoming atmosphere to the whole café. In 2000 we decided to stop the wholesale side of our business following the collapse of Ansett who was our biggest customer and to instead focus on extending and building up the café. We took out one of the windows and replaced with a stunning old tall door which had been one of a pair of double church doors, this door is a much loved talking point but also allowed access so that we could create the courtyard which is now an integral part of the café. Customers often comment on how it feels like a little bit of England or France with the stunning wall of Pierre de Ronsard roses and the shade provided by three robinia mop top trees. The courtyard is a beautiful place to relax beside the roses and for locals to bring their dogs with them, we can’t imagine not having it there once! We have also developed another section into a back garden which people enjoy walking around or sitting quietly with their lunch. Ingleside’s main building only sits on it’s own footprint, so we were very fortunate to be able to purchase the adjoining building in the early 1990’s which had been the former fire station. This has proved invaluable as an office space in addition to the courtyard and gardens. How many staff do you currently employ and what do you feel is the key to finding and retaining good staff? We currently employ 18 staff. Our baker, Darren Richards joined the company in 1999 and is still with us which has provided great continuity in the quality of our bakery products. In the past we used to find staff by word of mouth or by an advert in the Examiner but in recent years we have had some success with Gumtree. We have a wonderful manager Merilyn Barker who has been with us for 8 years and our current longest serving front of house employee has been at Ingleside for 12 years. We no longer open on public holidays as it is financially unviable although we make an exception during the Glover prize long weekend in March as we like to support this local event.
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enquiries@tha.asn.au 03 6220 7300
Hospitality Review
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