CROCKERY KING: Matthew Kennedy. Photo: Jeremy Bannister.
Ballarat has two kings of crockery — Matthew Kennedy and Steve Day from Thomas Catering Equipment. I recently caught up with Matt at their Armstrong Street headquarters — I suspect Steve Day was enjoying a round of golf.
Suzi:
Matt:
Thomas, the founder. Steve brought the business in 2002. I came on board and we opened in Ballarat one year later.
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M:
and western and metropolitan Victoria, the Warnie store covers from Apollo Bay to Mt Gambier.
S:
as well as the big guns?
M:
S:
Oompa Loompas sorting out the dishes and putting them away...
M:
groups.
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month.
S:
M: Ahh, there’s a local nursing home that will remain anonymous. They kept ordering heaps of teaspoons. We couldn’t believe how many they were going through. We suggested they search for them. They found 85 teaspoons in one lady’s bedside drawer.
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your sales?
M:
moulds or brulee torches.
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M:
business. But we had a near-miss once, delivering a $30,000 oven to the hospital. It was on a trolley jack. It got the wobbles on a corner and, luckily, we caught it just in time. We often have problems getting big
equipment through small doorways; a few things have had to go through the windows.
S:
M: No comment.
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M:
around Australia and worked on the Whitsundays and in Cairns and Mackay
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put in an e31 Moffat turbofan. It’s great. The pressure cooker also gets a workout.
S:
they budding junior chefs? Whose cooking do they like best?
M:
S:
know this about me...”
M:
all your own food. We make everything
ourselves, from jams to sauces. We love to go
fossicking and use what we find.
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