Brownies, blondies and businesses on the Bellarine

ADELIA Fine Foods, Bellarine Brownies and Bellarine Rocky Road – if you are a sweet tooth living on the Bellarine, you have probably come across these gourmet delicacies.

In just under a decade, Bellarine couple Adam and Amelia Trethowan have built three businesses handcrafting gourmet food while settling into life as parents of their two girls.

At their businesses Adam and Amelia, along with their team of 18 local employees, design recipes and handcraft brownies, rocky road, muesli, granola, porridge, pancake mix, healthy treats and more.

Adam, who is a chef, designs the recipes with help from Amelia and their tight-knit team of 18 local employees.

Amelia said Adam does most of the hard work designing recipes, before the team revises a recipe three or four times prior to its release – but the taste team aren’t complaining.

“We do a lot of taste testing and revising,” Amelia said.

“My favourite rocky road is our original flavour, Turkish Delight and pistachio, my favourite brownie is the classic, triple chocolate, and my favourite granola is our latest release, maple pecan granola.”

Their business ventures first began in late 2013, when the couple set out to make small batches of muesli and granola from their Bellarine home, under the brand Adelia Fine Foods.

At the time, Amelia said she was working as a program manager, and Adam as a chef, but they both dreamed of owning their own business.

“We were both still working full time… we started that at home, on the weekends and after hours,” she said.

“Adam was a head chef prior to this, which allowed him to create under pressure. My background is in formulation science where I worked in the pharmaceutical industry creating and testing new products.

“We both have the entrepreneurial attitude of seeing what’s possible with the determination to make it happen, with both our skillsets and interests complementing each other.”

In the beginning the couple sold their products at local markets on weekends while working full time.

“It quickly took off, and our customers were keen to know where they could get more when not at the market,” Amelia said.

“Adam approached a few local stores about stocking our products and all of them welcomed us with open arms and were incredibly supportive of us and the brand we were creating.

“This gave us encouragement to approach further stores, and we are now in over 300 stores nationwide.”

And with such a supportive community, Amelia said their business ventures didn’t stop there.

In 2017 the couple custom-built a factory in Ocean Grove, and launched Adelia Fine Foods’ sweeter sister business, Bellarine Brownie.

“We designed a custom commercial kitchen to fit out a warehouse in the industrial estate in Ocean Grove.

“We nervously hired our first employee in the first week of moving in, and introduced a new brand and product line, Bellarine Brownie Company, a few months after.

“We started with four brownies and one rocky road under that brand, and we launched it [Bellarine Brownies] the day after our second child was born.

“Not the greatest timing but that’s when it happened – she came a little bit early.

“Despite it being the busiest period of the year for our business, I had a strange sense of calm when I went into labour early with Arla.

“Once Adam knew we were ok, he went back to the warehouse to get everything sorted for the next day, and I was able to relax and spend those few hours on my own, peacefully preparing for what was coming next.

“The weeks following were a bit of a roller coaster as they often are with a new baby. There were feelings of gratitude and calm but also feelings of missing out on being fully engaged in the launch.”

Now Adam and Amelia’s children, aged six and five, and businesses, are still growing up happily on the Bellarine Peninsula.

“Juggling business and family comes with its challenges, and we can often be our own biggest critics,” Amelia said.

“How do you juggle it? Well, there’s no answer for that. It’s an ongoing battle, trying to be a good mum and trying to be a good business owner, sometimes you drop the ball for one.

“But I think having the support of family, obviously Adam and the great team that can really pick up the workload.”

In 2021, the couple again moved their businesses into a warehouse that was three-times the size, and launched their third business, Bellarine Rocky Road Company.

“Here we have two separate commercial kitchens, one which is completely dedicated to our gluten free product range, with all of our gluten free products now endorsed by Coeliac Australia.

“That’s pretty big because the entire Bellarine Brownie brand is gluten free, and about a third of the Adelia Fine Foods brand is also gluten free.”

“We now employ a team of 18 across logistics, sales and manufacturing, and while they are passionate about food design and creating the tastiest recipes, they are even more passionate about supporting locals through employment.

“I love seeing our team succeed, kicking goals together and demonstrating their own individual desire to improve the business through the implementation of ideas.”

“I think for me I like watching some of our team members grow in their position… learning the food production world and becoming confident in their job role and having the desire to learn more and do more within the business, that’s always fun to watch.”

Amelia said the heart of Bellarine Brownies and Adelia Fine Foods is really to give back to the community.

“We also support a number of local charities… giving back to the community is important to us.

“We give our food waste to Feed Me Bellarine and we do a monthly donation to them.

“We have volunteered our staff to assist/support with food preparation and cooking of meals in the past, and now support them financially through the buy-a-crate program.”

“Last year we had a limited-edition pink granola… Adelia Fine Foods were proud to partner with the National Breast Cancer Foundation and donate $1 from the sale of every PINK GRANOLA to world-class breast cancer research.”

Adelia Fine Foods and Bellarine Brownies are stocked at numerous grocers locally, including Barwon Heads IGA, Wallington Rural Pantry, East Fruit Market, Point Lonsdale IGA, Queenscliff Foodworks, Tom’s Marketplace, Peaches Torquay, Anglesea and Torquay IGA and more.

“Or you can pop into our warehouse in Ocean Grove, and we have an online store on both of our websites.”

To find out more or view the stockists head to adeliafinefoods.com.au or bellarinebrownie.com.au; or follow @BellarineBrownie and @Adeliafinefoods on Instagram.