Episode #37 is now Live!

Meet Alex Riviere

Alex was born in France and his passion for hospitality came at a young age watching his family of restraunteurs run hospitality venues. 

He moved to Australia at the age of 22 and worked in several well known restaurants around Bondi one of them being Sean’s Panorama. 

After spending several years in Australia, Alex and his partner Lulu  decided to move back to France to be closer to family. 

Two years later and with a new born baby they decided to move back to Australia. 

They loved the relaxed Blue Mountains lifestyle and knew it was the perfect place to raise their family.

Alex resumed work as a chef in Mount Tomah, and part of his job was making sourdough for the restaurant. This is where his obsession for baking started. 

He was learning from YouTube, and connecting with other bakers on Instagram to learn the art. 

With the support of his wife  it didn’t take long for him to quit his job as a chef and start baking full time. 

David Harris from Vesta allowed him to use his wood fire oven after the restaurant would close, which allowed him to start supplying several cafes and restaurant. 

He set up a Saturday morning stall at The Blue Mountains Food Co-op markets and that’s where he grew his reputation. 

He would prep all his sourdough from his house and then head to Vestas to bake his bread at night. 

He was starting to get tired of all the logistics of making his own bread from home and using another venue to bake his bread, so he decided to ask other cafe operators if they knew of anyone that was anyone willing to invest in helping him set up his own bakery. 

He was connected with Stefan and Rosi who were in awe of his bread vision and passion and decided to invest in him. 

Things progress very quickly and within several  months they opened their first bakery called Black Cockatoo. 

Broadsheet once were quoted as saying his bakery commanded similar queues to an Apple store on a new iPhone day.

With 2 stores and a wholesale business black cockatoo is as popular as ever selling nearly 4000 pastries a week. 

I was so inspired by Alex’s story, his business is built on pure passion, obsession and love for baking. Alex is 100% self taught in making bread and pastries.

He credits his wife Lulu for the Success he has had saying he would never been able to pursue his passion for baking if she didn’t support him.