Our Story
As you may know my Mum, Jo (Jojo to her 7 grandkids) started Springhill Farm over 35 years ago. It all began because school kids would regularly visit my parents’ farm and while Dad (Ray to his mates) gave them the full ‘farm experience’; think collecting eggs, hay bale rides and milking the goat (story for another time) Mum wanted to give them something to eat that they could connect back to what they had learnt that day.
While it doesn’t sound revolutionary now, the muesli slice was in vogue back then (literally, the slice was featured in Vogue, I’m not kidding). Word got around about Jojo and her delicious slice, and soon she and Ray were baking full time.
While Mum isn’t in the kitchen as much anymore in an official capacity, she is well known to whip up a slice or a scone or two for guests, the postman, any farmhands, tradies; anyone who may stop past the farm.
Growing up I loved being a taste tester. It made sense then, that when I grew up, I would somehow be involved in the business. James (my husband) and I have officially been at the helm of the Springhill Farm brand for over 10 years. Today, although our operations have expanded considerably, we are still based in country Victoria, and still creating delicious treats that wouldn’t be out of place in Mum’s farmhouse kitchen.
Timeline
1984
Ray and Jo started hosting school and kindergarten children for “a day on the farm”. The day would finish with a muesli slice on the hay bales – one of the very first paddock to plate concepts.
1985
Word got out about Jo’s delicious muesli slice and soon the kitchen table could no longer hold all the slice for her orders. Jo’s passion for baking slice became a full-time job.
1992
Our operations became so big that we moved from the farm to Ballarat, Victoria
2000
We received an opportunity to start packaging our products on a large scale and supplied the Sydney Olympic games. They went down a treat!
2005
We were at the forefront of gluten free baking as we believe that everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy our mouth-watering slice. We launched our first ever range of GF products [spoiler alert – they were a big hit]
2007
We built our new home in sunny Delacombe around the corner (still in Ballarat) giving us plenty of room to grow in the future
2010
Fiona (Ray and Jo’s eldest daughter) and her husband James took over day to day running of the business
2012
We started our love of flying – supplying Virgin with our lemon slice. We had no idea how we would produce the volume we promised but we knew we had to make it happen to transform our business – and we did.
2014
…And soon enough, the Flying Kangaroo wanted a slice of our treats on their flights too, which took our business to even greater heights.
2017
We were very proud to achieve BRC accreditation, an internationally recognised standard of food excellence. No mean-feat for a business of our size.
2020
After a rollercoaster year we launched our new look products and packaging giving customers a chance to up their time out treat game
2021
We started our partnership with Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, enabling donors across Australia to indulge after making a donation. Donate. Treat. Repeat.
2022
WOW what a year, and we're not finished yet!
We expanded again! Building a new warehouse right next door in Delacombe (Ballarat).
We created boodles! 🎵 Ooh my goodness they're chocolate, with half the sugar for me. Oh delightfully crispy. Yeah more chocolate for me, Yes I'm feeling oh so free 🎵🎵