Caterers taste sweet success

Melt in your mouth baked treats, home-made relishes and gourmet twists on country family favourites.

Mandy Chapman and Gill Inkster are responsible for many an overindulgence.

The catering duo run Biccies of Esperance and juggle family and farm business with the support of their husbands and children.

Mandy and husband Bill Chapman run rotational cropping with Merino sheep over 1050 arable hectares, while Gill and husband Craig Inkster run mixed cropping operation with 5000 shedding sheep over 2020 arable hectares.

The pair began tempting tastebuds in September 2007 with a home-baked biscuit order for Esperance's Coffee Cat van.

After two years, that first three dozen had grown to hundreds of biscuits each week.

In 2009, the pair turned their hands to catering for various rural gatherings.

Highlights have included weddings, CWA Ladies Annual Conference, SEPWA Ladies Day, SEPWA Men's Walk Through and, most recently, the Condingup Open Garden Scheme weekend.

As to what led them to become caterers?

"We both had had careers and were both at home, on the farm and had kids. We enjoyed cooking and wanted to provide home-cooked meals, rather than pre-packaged." Mandy said.

"We cook simple, everyday food. We use what's around or local - we cook a lot of what comes out of our garden.

"It's also cheaper, better environmentally and I believe it has made our kids more passionate," Gill adds.

Travel can be a problem. However, the girls believe this is part of running a small business in a rural setting.

They attribute their success to the flexibility and family support that comes with living in the country.

"The support we get from family and friends is unbelievable. They are proud of what you can do," Mandy said.

"Our husbands are our greatest support."

Mandy and Gill believe that without the flexibility of work hours, and constant back up of their partners, Biccies would be non-existent.

"We can leave our kids with our husbands. We've had the kids strapped into tractors and pushing up sheep," Mandy said.

They are also touted as the women's best critics.

"Not always the nicest," Mandy adds with a giggle, "but the best".