Thomas Parker from Woolworths Indooroopilly in Queensland crowned 2025 Baker of the Year
Nicol Strang from Woolworths Forest Lakes in Western Australia crowned inaugural Woolworths All Star Baker of the Year
The Woolworths Baker of the Year competition has been running for ten years
25 March, 2025 – Woolworths celebrated its 10th annual Baker of the Year competition, featuring two exciting bake-offs and crowning two new baker champions.
Thomas Parker from Woolworths Indooroopilly, Queensland, won the 2025 Baker of the Year, impressing judges with his perfect traditional hot cross buns.
For the first time, to mark a decade of the awards, Woolworth’s introduced the inaugural All-Star Baker of the year won by Nicol Strang from Forest Lakes, Western Australia.
Judges praised Thomas Parker for his winning hot cross bun, giving him top marks for taste, texture and fruit to dough ratio.
“It capped off a busy few weeks, first helping my dad keep his house safe during the recent floods and then my wife gave birth to our fourth child - a beautiful baby boy,” Thomas said.
“I can’t believe I won, I had to keep on double checking the trophy to make sure it was really me. I began baking at 17, as I was inspired by my uncle who was a baker and so I just wanted to be like him.”
The inaugural All Stars winner Nicol Strang adds this year’s new trophy to his collection having won Baker of the Year in 2023 and 2024.
The All-Star competition saw a total of five past winners, four from Australia and one from New Zealand, create their own unique baked goods. Strang's winning savory wreath featured brie, sundried tomato, spinach, and feta.
The Scottish born Strang, started baking at 15 and has worked at Woolworths since 2022, said the All Star competition was a new challenge.
"It’s been a great honour to go up against such great talent and it’s something many of us are always excited to participate in.
“I’ve been baking for over 40 years and I’m really proud that I have the opportunity to mentor new bakers coming into the trade.”
Donald Keith, Woolworths Bakery Merchandise Manager, commented, “It’s a real highlight each year to celebrate the passion and talent of our dedicated bakers.
“The standard is always incredibly high, and this competition is all about the things we love most about Woolworths, the people and the high quality products that we deliver to our customers each and every day.
Fun facts about Woolworths’ bakeries and hot cross buns:
Woolworths employs over 1,550 qualified bakers, apprentices and cadets who bake fresh bread and baked goods daily in more than 680 stores nationwide.
Woolworths’ bakers prepare a range of baked goods fresh in store each day and have been making baked goods in-store for more than 50 years.
Woolworths continues to recruit for more bakers and apprentices across its stores, and has a Bakery cadet program which launched in 2022. The cadet program allows people to upskill on their technical baking skills over a 12-month period.
Woolworths sells more than 12 million individual hot cross buns during the week of Easter. You can find the entire range of Woolworths Hot Cross buns available this season here including the popular limited edition Biscoff Hot Cross Buns.
ENDS
For further information, contact Woolworths Media: 02 8885 1033 or media@woolworths.com.au.