Three Layer Cake

Full Interview with Rachel Grisewood, Founder, Manna From Heaven (Australia)

(See also Rachel's Recipes)

What does it take to build a catering business into your city's largest supplier of cakes and cookies?  If you guessed a food services background, a love for food, a dedication to quality ingredients and preparation, and business savvy, you almost got it right.  What it really takes is Rachel Grisewood.  Not working with her, being her.

Rachel Grisewood was not at all intimidating as two women rolled baking racks and a floor fan out of the way to allow me into the bakery.  As she came over from a back corner of the bakery, I noticed her clothes.  She was dressed in a blue apron, turquoise flats, and most noticeably, a blue-dominated Akira Isogawa shirt.  She notices my look, kinds of laughs, hooks her thumb in the shirt and says, "I love Akira Isogawa’s stuff.  I work in it.  I've scrubbed out an entire room back there in one of his full length dresses!"  Why?  Because she thinks nice clothes should be worn and enjoyed, not saved for some special occasion.  This practical and rational approach to enjoying the finer things in life is but one of the characteristics that has contributed to Rachel’s success.  I wedge myself behind a stainless steel worktable flanked by bins of cookies and a freezer and walk-in refrigerator.  As she begins to slice banana bread loaves for an upcoming order, she says that we can talk while she works for a bit at finishing up the slices because she's a woman and is capable of multitasking—“that's what women do!  We multitask."   This is another one of her remarkable abilities.

Manna From Heaven and its younger offspring The Sydney Biscuit Company are the fruits of Rachel's many talents.  MFH's bakery is located in a 280m² corner shop in Marrickville (Sydney), formerly a fast food shop.  It was adapted to fit MFH's burgeoning needs in 1998 and is MFH's fourth bakery.  In February 2006, MFH will move to a new bakery slightly more than three times the current one.  Quarters are indeed very close, morale is high, everyone works diligently, and there's no time for play.  This kitchen, in peak season, can turn out 5000 cakes per day, all handmade like everything else MFH produces!  One of the keys to MFH’s workplace harmony is that all employees are equal.  Rachel has found that their work environment functions best when there is no hierarchy. 

I was introduced to Manna From Heaven's handmade desserts on a Qantas flight from Hong Kong to Sydney.  Manna From Heaven began supplying First and Business Classes in 2002, a relationship which began thanks to encouragement by well-known Australian chef Neil Perry.  Rachel pointed to the boxes that were designed for that presentation, "We've got the best designers, and we just did a really fantastic job.  After our presentation, they told us that ours was the best they had ever seen.  By far."  Based on the success of the First and Business Class fare, Qantas approached Manna From Heaven again for Economy Class selections.  In order to supply similar quality goods on that large a scale, however, it was necessary to create The Sydney Biscuit Company and move production off site.   In between phone calls from clients, she told me how her days are divided up.  She spends half her time in the Manna kitchens, where she contributes her own handiwork, and the other half supervising work in the four Sydney Biscuit Company kitchens.  In the coming weeks, she will develop new recipes for the next semester of Qantas' menus.  Every six months, they introduce a new menu. Therefore, each semester Rachel develops and presents approximately fifty new products from which ultimately about two are chosen.  Manna also develops special recipes for other clients as well, such Australian tea chain T2 to whom they supply cookies which are baked using T2’s very own teas.