Baker Bleu
Baker Bleu is an Australian artisan sourdough bakery operating five retail locations across Melbourne and Sydney, founded in 2016 by Mike and Mia Russell. It serves individual consumers through retail, restaurants and hotels through wholesale, and corporates through event catering, with a signature 48-hour fermented dark crust sourdough as its flagship product.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersCaulfield North, Australia
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Baker Bleu does
Baker Bleu is an Australian artisan sourdough bakery founded in 2016 by Mike and Mia Russell in Elsternwick, Melbourne. The company operates five physical bakery locations — four in Melbourne (Cremorne, Caulfield North, Hawksburn, South Yarra) and one in Sydney (Double Bay) — baking fresh product 365 days per year on a near-24-hour production cycle. Its core technology is a 48-hour slow-fermentation process using natural wild yeast leavening and stone-milled flour sourced from Wholegrain Milling Co., which produces a signature dark, chewy crust sourdough that cannot be easily replicated by commercial bakeries. The product range extends beyond bread to pastries, bagels, Roman-style sourdough pizzas, made-to-order sandwiches, cookies, seasonal specials, and special-occasion cakes, plus branded merchandise (ceramic mugs).
Baker Bleu generates revenue through three distinct channels: (1) direct-to-consumer retail across its five stores, with unit-priced items ranging from $13-$21 for sandwiches and $12-$15 for pizzas; (2) wholesale supply of bread to a curated roster of more than 20 Melbourne and Sydney fine-dining restaurants, wine bars, hotels, and specialty grocers, including Attica, Cutler & Co., Gimlet, Carlton Wine Room, Sheraton Grand Hyde Park, InterContinental Double Bay, Victor Churchill, and Simon Johnson; and (3) corporate and event catering with a $30 minimum order, 48-hour notice, and delivery within 5km of bakeries, scaled for groups of 4 to 500. Online pre-ordering through a Square-powered e-commerce platform supports in-store pickup across all locations.
The business operates with a headcount of 11-50 employees, is privately held by its founders with no disclosed external funding, and relies on long-tenured strategic supplier partnerships — Wholegrain Milling Co. for traceable, certified-sustainable flour (up to 54% lower carbon footprint than conventional flour) and Market Lane Coffee for coffee across all stores. Additional commercial relationships include Backyard Honey, a flagship nine-year wholesale partnership with Andrew McConnell's restaurant group, and brand collaborations such as the 2026 Lunar New Year menu with Lee Ho Fook. Marketing is primarily word-of-mouth, organic social, email newsletter, and content marketing centred on craft and sustainability, with no performance marketing or paid acquisition infrastructure disclosed.
Baker Bleu firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Baker Bleu
- Legal name
- Baker Bleu Pty Ltd
- Website
- https://bakerbleu.com.au
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Baker Bleu is an Australian artisan sourdough bakery operating five retail locations across Melbourne and Sydney, founded in 2016 by Mike and Mia Russell. It serves individual consumers through retail, restaurants and hotels through wholesale, and corporates through event catering, with a signature 48-hour fermented dark crust sourdough as its flagship product.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Baker Bleu industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Artisan Bakery
- NAICS
- Retail Bakeries (311811), Baked Goods Retailers (445291), Bakeries and Tortilla Manufacturing (3118)
- SIC
- Bakery Products (2050), Retail-Eating Places (5812)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Retail Bakeries (Bread & Daily Bakery) (THAFAFAA)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Cafe-Bakeries (Coffee + Pastry Focus) (THAFADAG), Bread & Pastry Specialty Stores (CRAHAGAC)
Keywords
Where Baker Bleu is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Caulfield North
- HQ country
- Australia
- HQ region
- Oceania
Offices5 records
Markets served
Baker Bleu business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Retail Bread and Pastry Sales: Direct consumer sales through 5 bakery locations in Melbourne and Sydney. Products include sourdough loaves, pastries, bagels, pizzas, sandwiches, and cookies. Baked fresh daily, 365 days a year.
- Catering Services: Corporate and event catering providing sourdough sandwiches, pastries, and breakfast packages. Minimum order value $30. Pre-payment required. Delivery within 5km of bakeries.
- Wholesale to Restaurants: Supplying sourdough bread to selected restaurants, cafes, and specialty retailers across Melbourne and Sydney. Same quality bread as retail stores.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Sandwiches and lunch items ranging from $13-$21 |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Sourdough pizzas from $12-$15 |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Catering minimum order $30 |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels4 records
Baker Bleu product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Baker Bleu is an artisan sourdough bakery that crafts and sells handmade sourdough bread, pastries, sandwiches, and pizzas across 5 bakery locations in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. The company also operates a catering service and supplies bread wholesale to restaurants, with customers able to order in-store or via an online pre-order system.
Product overview
Baker Bleu is an artisan sourdough bakery operating as a unified retail and catering business with five physical bakery locations across Melbourne (Cremorne, Caulfield North, Hawksburn, South Yarra) and Sydney (Double Bay). The core offering centres on slow-fermented sourdough bread with a signature dark crust, complemented by pastries, bagels, sourdough pizzas, sandwiches, cookies, and seasonal specials. Bread is produced using 48-hour fermentation with certified sustainable flour from Wholegrain Milling Co. The product portfolio spans core daily items (bread, pastries, bagels, pizzas, sandwiches), seasonal limited editions (winter specials, occasion cakes), merchandise (mugs), and service offerings (catering for 4–500 people, wholesale to restaurants, online pre-order with in-store pickup). All products are handmade and baked fresh daily, 365 days a year.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Sourdough Bread
- Pastries
- Sandwiches
- Sourdough Pizzas
- Catering Services
- Wholesale Bread Supply
- Online Pre-Order
Quantifiable outcome
- Flour carbon footprint up to 54% lower than conventional flours
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Baker Bleu
Customer profileNamed customers21 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Baker Bleu technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
Feature3 records
Baker Bleu partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.
- Wholegrain Milling Co.coreLong-term partnership since 2016 founding. Supplier of certified sustainable flour with traceable farming practices. Flour carbon footprint up to 54% lower than conventional alternatives. Partnership includes stone-milling and ancient heritage grains specifically grown for Baker Bleu.
- Market Lane CoffeecorePartnership since 2016 providing coffee to all Baker Bleu locations. Market Lane is B Corp certified and dedicated to sustainable, responsible coffee sourcing. Shares Baker Bleu's values around provenance, transparency, and quality ingredients. Coffee served features notes of almond and green apple.
- Backyard HoneyminorSupplier of 100% Australian raw honey from hand-tended hives across Melbourne gardens. Cold extracted and unheated, supporting local beekeeping and sustainable practices.
- Andrew McConnell RestaurantsflagshipNine-year relationship supplying bread to McConnell's Melbourne and Sydney restaurants. Began when McConnell visited original Elsternwick bakery. Now supplies multiple venues including fine dining establishments.
- Lee Ho FookminorLunar New Year 2026 collaboration creating special menu items: duck sausage roll in croissant pastry with quince hoisin, spring onion and sesame twist with ginger glaze, and jasmine tea infused custard tarts. Artwork by Xiao Mei Luo.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Baker Bleu competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Poilâne: French artisan bakery famous for hand-shaped sourdough miche and punnets with signature dark crust, long fermentation, and stone-hearth baking. Same product philosophy (slow fermentation, dark crust heritage) as Baker Bleu's core offering.
- Tartine Bakery: Iconic San Francisco artisan bakery known for country loaves and pastries using long fermentation and heritage grains; comparable craft philosophy and signature dark, well-developed crust. Not in Australia, but the international reference point for premium sourdough bakeries.
Direct peers
- Brasserie Bread: Long-established Australian artisan bakery known for sourdough and specialty breads with both retail and wholesale operations across Sydney and Melbourne. Comparable craft positioning, multi-channel model, and supply to leading restaurants.
- AP Bakery: Melbourne-based artisan bakery with a strong wholesale program to restaurants and cafes, producing sourdough, pastries, and viennoiserie. Direct competitor in the Melbourne wholesale artisan-bread segment.
- Brickfields Bakery: Melbourne-based artisan bakery and cafe with a strong sourdough program and wholesale supply to restaurants. Direct craft-bakery competitor in the same city as Baker Bleu with a similar cafe-bakery model.
- Sonoma Bakery: Sydney-based artisan sourdough bakery and cafe group with multiple locations producing slow-fermented breads, pastries, and cafe fare. Closely comparable retail-bakery-and-cafe format with similar artisan positioning and direct customer base overlap in Sydney.
- Bourke Street Bakery: Australian artisan bakery founded by Paul Allam and David McGuinness, operating multiple Sydney and surrounding locations serving sourdough, pastries, pies, and sandwiches with similar premium positioning and cafe-bakery model. Directly comparable craft bakery with multi-site footprint.
Others
- Wholegrain Milling Co. Australian specialty flour miller supplying Baker Bleu with sustainable, heritage-grain flour. Included as a strategic supplier rather than a competitor; the strength of this partnership underpins Baker Bleu's product differentiation and ESG story.
Broad incumbents
- Bakers Delight: Australia's largest bakery franchise network with hundreds of stores nationwide selling breads, rolls, and pastries. Competes at the volume/retail end of the bread market rather than the artisan niche; provides a scaling benchmark but a different price-positioning tier.
Regional players
- St Ali Coffee Roasters: Melbourne-origin specialty coffee roaster and cafe operator with adjacent bakery-style food programs. Comparable Melbourne specialty-food operator and brand-builder, with a different primary product (coffee vs bread) but overlapping cafe and wholesale customer base.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses3 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Baker Bleu social profiles
Digital presenceBaker Bleu financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Baker Bleu leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Baker Bleu funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Baker Bleu M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Baker Bleu
What does Baker Bleu do?
Baker Bleu is an artisan sourdough bakery that crafts and sells handmade sourdough bread, pastries, sandwiches, and pizzas across 5 bakery locations in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. The company also operates a catering service and supplies bread wholesale to restaurants, with customers able to order in-store or via an online pre-order system.
Is Baker Bleu a public or private company?
Baker Bleu is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Baker Bleu founded?
Baker Bleu was founded in 2016. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Baker Bleu based?
Baker Bleu is headquartered in Caulfield North, Australia, in the Oceania region.
How does Baker Bleu make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Retail Bread and Pastry Sales are the primary driver. The others are catering Services and wholesale to Restaurants.
Who are Baker Bleu's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are Poilâne and Tartine Bakery. Direct peers are Brasserie Bread, AP Bakery, Brickfields Bakery, Sonoma Bakery and Bourke Street Bakery. Wholegrain Milling Co. is listed as an others. Bakers Delight is listed as a broad incumbent. St Ali Coffee Roasters is listed as a regional player.
Does Baker Bleu have an API?
No public API is recorded for Baker Bleu.
What industry is Baker Bleu in?
Baker Bleu's product category is Artisan Bakery. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAFAFAA, Retail Bakeries (Bread & Daily Bakery), with a secondary code of THAFADAG, Cafe-Bakeries (Coffee + Pastry Focus). Its NAICS code is 311811 and its SIC code is 2050.