The Strathy Hot Bread Bakery will enter a new leg of its journey from this week.
After 36 years of offering customers a range of mouth-watering treats and pastries, the family-owned institution will enter into the care of new owners.
Van Huynh and his wife, Van Bui, will take up the torch to manage the storied bakery.
Owners Ray and Glenda Kelly have owned and operated their beloved bakery since the very beginning.
Ray, who was a qualified baker before he and Glenda opened their bakery with Glenda’s brother, said he would bake vanilla slices for functions at the nearby Strathmerton Primary School.
But before he and Glenda could take them across to the school, every last slice would already be taken by hungry mouths.
“They said [to Glenda and I], ‘You could start a bakery’,” Ray said.
“So I said, ‘Well, why don’t we have a go at it?’”
Now a destination for holidaymakers and locals alike, Strathy Hot Bread first opened its doors on August 10, 1988, at a smaller venue a couple of doors down from its current location at 41 Main St.
Soon enough, the bakery found itself in the national spotlight after landing a top-seven position at the Great Australian Pie Competition.
“That was a major uplift,” Ray said.
Later, in 1995, Glenda and Ray decided to relocate to a larger space. Securing a property nearby the school, the bakery cherished by locals was born.
With retirement around the corner, Glenda and Ray said they were looking forward to some freedom in their lives.
For Glenda, Ray and their daughter Caroline Ryan, steering a family business in a small community is about more than the food.
Over the years, the family has provided many local young people with training and their first jobs.
Many former staff, who had their first job at the bakery, have gone on to join the defence forces and create successful careers for themselves both in their home town and around the nation.
Glenda said it had been rewarding seeing former employees, many of whom were junior staff, forge their own paths in the world.
It was a sentiment echoed by Carolyn.
“It sets them up for life and gives them confidence. It’s not just about baking a pie, it’s about being part of a team and being able to handle money,” she said.
“You help set them up in life to do good things.”