3 months ago
17
Foodies are flooding social media with reviews of Jane Scrolls, calling them the best in Brisbane.
The pair behind the brand, however, are too humble to lean into that title.
“You’d have to see, it’s up to your interpretation, but we can give you a pretty good experience,” co-owner Hamish Pearce says.
If you search “Brisbane scrolls” on TikTok, you’ll see numerous clips of people lifting the lid on one of Jane Scrolls’ decadent treats – there’s classic cinnamon, lemon blueberry, pecan sticky date, vegemite and cheese, and the billionaire.
Hamish Pearce and Rebecca Ferguson have continued to work full-time while building their business – named after Pearce’s late mother.Credit: Brittney Deguara
“We found them on TikTok, and we came because they honestly look incredible,” customer Bronte says one Sunday morning at Milton Markets.
“We’re roughing this heat to crack onto these,” friend Giorgia adds while standing in the sweltering Brisbane sun.
A three-hour sellout
Despite only operating for three months and selling just two days a week, Jane Scrolls has grown significantly via social media and word-of-mouth. It’s common for trays to be licked clean just two to three hours into a market morning.
Loading
Co-owner Rebecca Ferguson recalls the first time they sold out. She arrived at 10am to help after completing a university assessment, but the stall was bare.
“[Hamish] had baked 100 scrolls that day. We just looked at each other and thought, ‘this is really big’,” she tells Brisbane Times.
Weekend market preparations now entail 500 scrolls – half to sell at the Rocklea Fresh Market on Saturday and the rest to sell at Milton Markets on Sunday. To date, about 8000 scrolls have been made.
This is quite a feat, considering the pair still work full-time – she is about to become a lawyer, practising family law, and he works as a business development manager.
“It doesn’t feel real yet, but it feels excellent,” Ferguson says.
New shop, more staff, thousands of scrolls
The workload and the number of scrolls will soon balloon as the couple prepare to open their first storefront, at Indooroopilly Shopping Centre, on December 8.
Upsizing from a weekend operation to a seven-day gig means a lot more dough – and a lot more manpower.
“[We’ll be] close to that 2000-to-3000-scroll-a-week mark,” Pearce says.
In their first month, the pair were doing it all. They would finish work on Friday then head to the commercial kitchen they leased in Rocklea and prepare everything. That routine quickly became difficult to maintain, so they scaled the team up to 14 casual staff.
“We’ve got a team that comes in from about 5pm to 9pm on a Friday and does all the prep, and Bec and I are up at midnight each day doing the proofing, baking and decorating, and then coming into the markets from 6am to 12pm,” Pearce explains.
Brisbane’s obsession with these scrolls isn’t all that surprising for Pearce, who admits to having “self-belief” in their product.
“I absolutely love cooking, and we only use the highest ingredients. It wasn’t a cost thing for us, we never went into it for profit or anything like that, everything is top-notch Australian produce,” he says.
The only ingredient they import is the cinnamon, which comes from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, because “it’s just a better cinnamon”. The dough is special too as it is not as sweet as usual scrolls, to balance out the sweetness of the fillings.
“It’s not a product that makes you need to go have a nap after it; you can actually enjoy the whole thing and not feel ill after,” Ferguson explains.
Pearce inherited his love of cooking from his late mum, Jane, for whom the shop is named, and says they’re building on the momentum started by scroll giants across the country, including Sebby’s Scrolls in Melbourne, Sundays Bondi in Sydney, and Public Supply on the Gold Coast.
Sharing community connection
But a new storefront doesn’t mean an end to the market stalls; that is one of the best parts of the business for both Pearce and Ferguson.
“Markets are my favourite part of it,” Ferguson says. “I also do actually like cleaning the trays.”
“We’ve got so many locals that come in week in, week out,” Pearce adds.
Ultimately, the goal is to franchise Jane Scrolls.
“I’d love to be able to have different franchise owners have their own little connection, different market stops, and they have a bit of ownership. And they can create those connections with their local community. That would be the goal,” Pearce says.
What is Brisbane’s social scene?
Brisbane Times is shining a spotlight on Brisbane people and businesses with a following on social media – from viral videos of your local butcher to a popular craft movie night.
