So why would they add sandwich loaves, the bread and butter of bigger bakeries, to their workload? It’s simple, says sales manager Nathan Tulip. A customer wanted them, and they knew they could make the best.
“Artisan bakers don’t normally do square sandwich loaves, but Mineral Resources wanted one and we thought we can do them better and cheaper, so we developed that product,” he says.
It’s just one of the baker’s delights that Loafers Artisan sends out to the mining company’s 11 operating sites for staff to enjoy each week. It’s a big undertaking that was months in the planning before kickoff last November.
“We really did the R&D to work out how we would do this. How many pallets would we need, did we have enough freezer rooms, those kinds of things,” Nathan says. “Since then, it’s been going from strength to strength.”
Meeting the market
As has the business Damian Norvilas and Alaine Guthrie founded in 2009. It’s why the team is returning to Meet the Buyer™, WA’s only dedicated food and beverage trade show, after a few years focusing on improving their systems.
“There probably weren’t many products that we could offer businesses when we first went, as we weren’t in that realm,” Nathan says.
“But over the past 12 months or so we’ve really worked hard to redevelop the brand and everything that we’re doing, so we have the scope and the scalability now to meet the market.”
While a customer like Mineral Resources provides a big boost for a smaller operation, retail and hospitality still account for the lion’s share of business. You can find Loafers Artisan on the shelves of retailers such as Farmer Jack’s and The Floreat Market, as well as on the side dishes at many restaurants around town.
A chef himself for 23 years, Nathan says the team really understands what our kitchen whizzes need.
“We deliver seven days a week, which makes us unusual but it’s really important for chefs to get fresh bread early,” he says. “Our cutoff times are also later than other bakeries – I know how impossible it is to stop while you’re doing lunch service to put an order through.”
Nathan is looking forward to catching up with a few at Meet the Buyer™, as well as meeting new buyers and suppliers. Relationship building is important because you never know when a product might be needed.
“It might be two years or more away, or what a business needs might not fit with what we do now, but it might one day,” he says.
Making connections
The team will also be on the lookout for other businesses that can value-add to their range, in a similar vein to the relationship they have built with Mallokup Malt. The Capel-based business produces high-quality WA barley to make fresh malt for wine, beer and bread.
“Our ops manager is a bread genius and he worked out what malts work best as a natural bread improver,” Nathan says. “We started milling it ourselves, putting it in the bread so you get a better shelf life, better flavour base and real depth that holds up.”
For it doesn’t matter how much bread you make, if the quality isn’t there customers won’t hang around.
“It’s easy to sell something that’s of quality because you believe in it, and the quality of the work environment adds to our capacity to keep delivering the goods,” Nathan says. “Now we’re looking at a pastry range – there’s a lot to look forward to.”
Meet the Buyer™ is at Crown Perth on Tuesday 21 October 2025. The exhibition floor is sold out, but chefs (and other buyers) still have time to snap up tickets to see what’s on offer.
Please note: Meet the Buyer™ is a trade and industry event only, but you can show your support by buying from the businesses mentioned and looking out for local produce wherever you shop.