Brookfarm at Byron Bay is proof that business dreams really can come true!
As one of Australia’s leading producers of macadamia nuts, the farm fulfills a cherished dream of Melbourne couple Pam and Martin Brook.
It started 30 years ago, when they bought a rundown dairy farm in the Byron Bay hinterland and began planting nut trees.
“We’ve always been passionate foodies, but we wanted a sea change, so we planned to leave our beloved Melbourne,” Martin says.
The rich, red volcanic soils, high rainfall and warm sub-tropical climate of the Byron Bay hinterland provided ideal conditions for growing macadamias.
The Brooks originally bought a rundown dairy farm 30 years ago and reinvented the land into a Macadamia farm. Source: Supplied: Brookfarm
At the very center of the farm, they also tried to partially restore the region’s original eco-system, planting 30,000 sub-tropical rainforest trees to create a wildlife haven.
Initially, the couple planned to move to Byron Bay with their children by 1990 , despite knowing it takes ten years for macadamia nut trees to bear commercially viable crops.
“But then came a financial crisis, and a recession and interest rates went sky high. So we just could not move,” Pam explains.
It would be a decade until they could finally afford to quit their jobs, and move up to Bryon Bay permanently. By then their trees had begun producing nuts.
By 2000 they sold their very first products, a brand of premium muesli packed with macadamias from their farm.
“We saw a gap in the market, because up until then, macadamias were seen as an export commodity.
“Macadamias are a great tasting nut, but people were just taking the shells off putting them into boxes, sending them overseas. So we thought, let’s put this nut into products that people eat every day”.
Today Brookfarm employs more than 70 people and exports products to 12 countries Source: Supplied: Brookfarm
Initially, they sold their special muesli in the nearby Bangalow markets.
With their 4,000 macadamia trees producing abundant nuts, Pam began experimenting with a range of recipes in their Byron Bay kitchen.
Martin and their two sons, Will and Eddie helped package and ship the products, kick-starting a journey that’s taken Brookfarm around the globe.
Today, the business employs more than 70 people, and exports to 12 countries.
And while both sons still work in the business, Eddie is now heading up the family's newest venture, the Cape Byron Distillery.
“We built the distillery here on one of the last plots of vacant land on our farm and we use a lot of the native flavours, a range of botanicals that come straight from our rainforest into our gin,” Eddie explains.
Eddie Brook and his father share a tasting at the Cape Byron Distillery, the family's latest venture. Source: SBS
Brookie’s Byron Dry Gin contains 26 botanicals of which 18 are native to their region of the NSW Northern Rivers.
Native botanicals include Byron Sunrise Finger Limes, Aniseed Myrtle, Cinnamon Myrtle, Macadamia, Native River Mint, and Native Raspberry.
Sustainability is a key ingredient in this family business success story.
Their bakehouse is fuelled by the sun, with 288 solar panels providing most of the required power.
“At the end of the day you have a love for what you do and that just sort of breathes in and out from our family. And it infuses everything we do from our mueslis and now into the world of spirits,” says Eddie.
