22 years working in the dark: Inside The Basin’s family bakery

On weekends, The Basin Bakery co-owner Fiorella Catalano starts work as early as 4am.

Her husband, Mario, usually begins at 11pm and finishes around 8.30am – a routine he has followed through seven years as an employee and more than 22 years as director and head baker.

No rest: Opening at 6am every day, the bakery is rarely empty or quiet.

From the kitchen, roars of laughter and the clanging of baking trays. The air is filled with the smells of fresh coffee, bread, pies, quiches and cakes.

⏳ The history: Mario and Fiorella took over the business in 2004, with Fiorella having no experience in running a business or baking full-time, departing a 13-year stint in retail.

• “I felt at home straight away,” she told the Eastern Melburnian. “As long as you do the right thing by your customers, they'll give it back in return.”

• In 2021, the couple expanded into the vacant fruit shop next door, turning the original bakery into a larger kitchen. A year later, they began serving coffee, sandwiches, rolls and ice cream.

🗓️ No day is the same: There are 24 staff on the weekly roster who cook or serve. Fiorella said cakes were the most difficult and time-consuming items to bake, and that the most often injuries were burns, which she suffers about once a month.

❤️A family affair: Their 26-year-old daughter, Mikayla, has worked at the bakery since she was 15, but started helping out from the age of three.

• She remembers sleeping on flour bags out the back when she was sick because her parents were too busy to take her home.

⏰ Clocking off: Switching off after work is a challenge.

• “We try not to have mini family work meetings at the dinner table, but it's 22 years of our life that we've put into this,” Fiorella said.

Burning passion: Despite the long hours, Fiorella said seeing regular customers and turning ingredients like flour and sugar into a "beautiful looking product” was “rewarding”.

• 🗣️ “Every day is different here,” she said. “Food waits for no one.”

⏭️ What’s next: Retirement has come up in conversation around the dinner table, but is not on the immediate horizon.

• 🗣️ “There's going to be a time when we do have to move on, but I could probably make coffee all day, every day, given the chance,” she said.