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Banjo’s Bakery, a family-owned Tasmanian favourite for more than 40 years, has announced plans to double its footprint to 100 stores by 2028, focusing on rural and inner suburban areas along Australia’s east coast.
Founded in Launceston in 1984 by Mark Saxby, Banjo’s Bakery now operates 51 stores nationwide, with the majority in Tasmania (29), followed by Queensland (17), Victoria (3), and one each in New South Wales and South Australia.
The company operates six of its own stores, with the rest run by a mix of single-site and multi-site franchisees.
Offering well-loved classics like meat pies, warm bread loaves and glazed donuts, Banjo’s sets itself apart from competitors like Bakers Delight and Brumby’s by offering a sit-down café area to accommodate customers, producing freshly-baked goods made onsite each morning.
Speaking to Business News Australia, acting CEO Bradley Saxby said the expansion was based on a combination of three factors: store performance, demand and population.
“We're seeing really strong growth in Queensland. We have a well-established brand up there now. It's great to get a concentration of stores in one spot to really grow your brand awareness. It’s a growing population in those areas and it suits our brand,” he explained.
“The real point of difference between us and a lot of other brands out there in the market is that we bake on site every single day. Each of our 51 outlets is essentially a manufacturing plant…the bakers get up and start working at 2am every morning and bake our products fresh every single day.
“We're pushing quite heavily into Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, and then we'll start to gravitate towards SA and WA.”
While the brand expanded beyond Tasmania more than 20 years ago, Saxby notes that aggressive expansion wasn’t really considered until after COVID-19, when Banjo’s began operating drive-thru outlets to accommodate the challenge of social distancing and reduced travel.
The company has 11 of its sites offering drive-thru service, with an additional three scheduled before the end of this year.
“When we overcame those times, we thought: we can really take on anything. So, for the last five years, I'd say we've been really pushing this national growth and looking at all states now,” he said.
“We've grown and upscaled our capabilities in terms of site acquisition…we've got a lot of discussions going on nationally with a lot of different sites. We've got six to complete this year and then we're going to have nine scheduled for next year, but between now and then, we’ll probably have a few more.”
When asked about whether Banjo’s was willing to go abroad, Saxby alluded to some early initial discussions, but said that the current focus is squarely set on local growth.
“We've had a few early discussions with a couple of companies internationally based in New Zealand, so it'll be something that we'll continue to consider as we grow,” he said.
“For the moment, our focus is predominantly national.”
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