AUSTRALIA | Woolworths celebrated its tenth annual Baker of the Year competition, featuring two exciting bake-offs and crowning two new baker champions.
Thomas Parker from Woolworths Indooroopilly, Queensland, won the 2025 Baker of the Year, impressing judges with his perfect traditional hot cross buns.
Judges praised Parker for his winning hot cross bun, giving him top marks for taste, texture and fruit-to-dough ratio.
“It capped off a busy few weeks, first helping my dad keep his house safe during the recent floods, and then my wife gave birth to our fourth child - a beautiful baby boy,” said Parker.
“I can’t believe I won. I had to keep on double-checking the trophy to make sure it was really me. I began baking at 17, inspired by my uncle, who was a baker, and so I just wanted to be like him.”
For the first time, to mark a decade of the awards, Woolworths also introduced the inaugural All-Star Baker of the Year, won by Nicol Strang from Forest Lakes, Western Australia. He added this year’s new trophy to his collection, having won Baker of the Year in 2023 and 2024.
The All-Star competition saw five past winners, four from Australia and one from New Zealand, create their own unique baked goods. Strang's winning savoury wreath featured brie, sundried tomato, spinach, and feta.
The Scottish-born Strang, who started baking at 15 and has worked at Woolworths since 2022, said the All-Star competition was a new challenge.
"It’s been a great honour to go up against such great talent, and it’s something many of us are always excited to participate in,” said Strang.
“I’ve been baking for over 40 years, and I’m really proud that I have the opportunity to mentor new bakers coming into the trade.”
Woolworths has continued to recruit more bakers and apprentices across its stores and launched a Bakery cadet program in 2022. The program allowed people to upskill their technical baking skills over a 12-month period.
Donald Keith, Woolworths Bakery Merchandise Manager, commented that celebrating the passion and talent of Woolworths’ dedicated bakers was a real highlight each year.
“The standard is always incredibly high, and this competition is all about the things we love most about Woolworths, the people and the high-quality products that we deliver to our customers each and every day,” said Keith.
Woolworths has employed over 1,550 qualified bakers, apprentices and cadets who bake fresh bread and baked goods daily in more than 680 stores nationwide. The bakers prepare a range of baked goods fresh in-store each day and have been making baked goods in-store for more than 50 years.
