Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses history

1915 Raymond Plarre, the son of Otto and his wife Liesl was born above their Puckle St store, delivered by a midwife at home.

1918 “The Hold Up”: The Fergusons delivered their goods from their Brunswick bakehouse to their stores by horse-drawn van.

1920 Through the 1920’s and 30’s, Percy catered for many Italian functions, and also catered for the very famous Florentino restaurant when they opened a cabaret operation.

1921 Percy Ferguson stopped his horse-drawn deliveries and purchased his first delivery truck, a T-Model Ford.

1924 Otto Plarre also stopped using his horse & buggy and purchased his first delivery trucks, an A-Model and T-Model Ford.

1927 The Ferguson’s cake shop was moved to a larger premises located at the prominent intersection of Sydney Rd and Bell St Coburg, where it remains today.

1928 “The Mr Tickle Episode”: Ray Plarre’s love of pastry cooking was so strong that it was starting to effect his schooling.

1931 Fergusons open a store at the Queen Victoria Market where it remains today.

1935 A terrible fire decimates the Ferguson’s bakehouse in Brunswick.

1938 A young Ray Plarre took second prize for both the Birthday Cakes and Novelty Sugar Work sections of the 1938 Pastrycooks Exhibitions Competition.

1939 The Best Decorated Birthday Cake title was won by Ray Plarre.

1941 Ray Plarre takes over full control of Plarre’s Cakes from his father Otto.

1950 Throughout the 1950’s, Plarre’s was building a glowing reputation for their cheesecakes and a very distinctive beef pie made with fried onions or bacon added to the beef for extra flavour.

1958 Ken Ferguson joins the Ferguson family business and is apprenticed to his father Jack.

1960 Ray Plarre was an avid food technologist and consulted with industry heavy-weights to personally develop the emulsifier Mellofine which helped the baker produce a fluffier, most moist sponge.

1966 In October 1966, the then “Plarre’s Cakes of Distinction” supplied rum truffles, green frogs and other ‘Fancies’ for the then current president of the USA, President Lyndon Johnson.

1969 Plarre’s were producing more than 100,000 Hot Cross Buns during Easter for customers who had often travelled up to twenty miles and waited in a queue for an hour to buy them.

1970 Fergusons open their first shopping centre outlet at Northland.

1975 Ray Plarre retires on his 60th birthday and hands control of Plarre's Cakes to his son Ralph.

1978 Ferguson’s start buying in a range of continental products at which they were not specialists from Plarre’s.

1979 With the growth of specialist bread shops like Bakers Delight, the Ferguson’s & Plarre’s both decide to restrict their business to the products they know best…cakes & savouries.

Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses was officially born on June 6th, 1980.

1983 After settling into the merger and consolidating their operations, Ferguson Plarre started refining their product range by taking the best from both businesses and scrapping anything that wasn’t adding value to their customers experience.

1987 Ferguson Plarre begins franchising, originally to family members who already worked in the business.

1988 Ralph Plarre's other son Michael Plarre joins the business as Production Manager.

1990 “The Mudcake” explodes onto the scene and takes the lead as Ferguson Plarre’s most popular cake.

1992 Pam Ferguson joins the business as Promotions Manager.

1996 Following in the footsteps of his forefathers, Ralph Plarre becomes President of The Baking Industry Association of Victoria to help build the baking industry.

1998 Continental Baked Cheesecake “Champion Prize Cheesecake” as judged at the 1998 Royal Melbourne Dairy Show.

2001 Our Mudcakes were awarded 1st place at the 2001 Victorian Baking Industry Show.

Blackforest Cheesecake as judged at the 2003 Royal Melbourne Dairy Awards.

Central baking facility moved from 340 Keilor Rd Niddrie to 35 Harrick Rd, Keilor Park on 14th September 2007.

2008 On 5th June Ferguson Plarre was nominated as one of only 4 finalists in Australia's most prestigious environmental awards, The Banksia Awards.

Wins the 2009 Origin Gold Banksia Award

2010 Inducted into the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame

2011 Opens stores 51 (Brunswick) and 52 (Seymour).

Ken sold his interest in the business to the Plarres in 2012

2013 A new online store is launched, with a new look and design.

2014 Ferguson Plarre launches an Australian Retail Bakery first - Cakes Alive! Augmented Reality cakes.

Winners will be announced on the 6th July, 2015