with Alex Knoll, Barossa Fine Foods
Introducing our new ‘Faces of the Market’ series featuring a snapshot into the lives of our traders…
For most of us our first memory of smallgoods would be hard to place but for Alex Knoll, one of the proprietors of family owned Barossa Fine Foods, it’s a not so distant memory. “Every Thursday after school when I was about five years old, Mum, Dad and my three brothers would go to our grandparents’ farm and make small amounts of smallgoods to sell in our store in the Adelaide Central Market,” he says. “I really loved the interaction with customers and making product with my hands. Every opportunity I had, I would get involved.”
When Alex was 16 he was given an opportunity to take two weeks off school to work in the factory and make product for the Sydney Olympic Games. “This was when I knew what I wanted to do. I left school on the Friday and started work at 4am on the Monday morning and have never looked back.” He spent time learning the art of smallgoods making and butchery and then after finishing his apprenticeship, went to help run the market shop.
Now as the food services & hospitality account manager and the brand ambassador for the award-winning business, Alex works toward the same goal as his parents do: to make the best small goods they can. And they’ve done a pretty good job so far with over 1000 medals and trophies obtained over the last decade, but Alex isn’t one to rest on his laurels. “You can never be satisfied with just okay – our customers always deserve the best,” he says. “We do it because we love what we do and what we make.”
So what are his favourite Barossa Fine Foods products? According to Alex “it’s like having a favourite child – you know you do but you never say it. I’ll say mine is the Duck Terrine and Smoked Wagyu Beef, but to anyone not sure, my advice is to always be willing to try something new, you might just find your next favourite food!”
Visit Barossa Fine Foods in our deli arcade to sample the award-winning range of mouth-watering charcuterie, and while you’re there pick up a roast pork roll for lunch – you won’t be disappointed!
Image credit: The Advertiser
