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Big boys eat into bread and butter

FOR the past 22 years, Jason Vaccari has been getting up at 1am to make sure Griffith residents buy the freshest bread possible.

But with the big two supermarkets selling loaves of bread for just $1, Mr Vaccari has urged residents to “use us or lose us” as independent bakeries fight to stay viable.

“It’s the old saying, if you don’t use us, you lose us,” he said. “We have to have Coles and Woolworths, they create employment too, but it has to be fair and you have to ask where are they making their money back when they sell that bread for $1″

Mr Vaccari, who has lived in Griffith his whole life and raised a family here, said customers get what they paid for with bread and every dollar spent in his store went back into the community.

“The $1 loaves are about 60 grams lighter than ours and you can feel the difference between them, the supermarket bread feels like it’s been frozen while ours you can tell is fresh. We would never sell a loaf of bread the next day,” he said. “Every time someone spends a dollar here it goes back to Griffith. Can the multinationals say where their dollar ends up? It wouldn’t end up in Griffith.”

With three young apprentices working under him, Mr Vaccari said he constantly worries if there will be a future for them.

“There are only a few of us (bakeries) left now,” he said. “SR Bakery and Bruno’s (Hot Bake) have all gone by the wayside and every time someone closes it’s sad.”

But Mr Vaccari said he would fight to the last breath to make sure there was a future in independent bakeries and he hopes Griffith residents will be there to support him and his workers.

“I love Griffith and we’re going to fight as hard as we can to stay here,” he said. “We’ve been here for a long time and when that $1 bread is gone we’ll still be here, and my kids will still be here.”

The National Baking Industry Association (NBIA) has launched a campaign called “Not all bread is created equal” to educate consumers about the advantages of buying from their local bakery.

“Major manufacturers ship their product hundreds of kilometres around the country, and therefore they produce bread which could be sold up to three days later,” NBIA general manager Paul McDonald said. “Consumers shouldn’t have to settle for days-old bread passing itself off as freshly baked.”

Bread Making with Bill & Sheila

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