The current lockdown may mean that the NSW South Coast is off limits to Sydneysiders, but thanks to the city sibling of Eurobodalla's Bodalla Dairy Farm, locals are still getting a taste of the dairy's sweetest offerings from Woollahra's Bodalla Dairy on Queen Street. 

Pre-lockdown, the most popular purchase was a classic ice-cream cone. However, a swift pivot to focus on family take-home tubs and ice-cream cakes as locals bought more ice cream to eat at home, has seen the store churn out a whopping 75kg more ice-cream every week. 

From this adaptation to their product-line, Bodalla Dairy is now selling 110 tubs of their famous ice cream each day, double the amount pre-lockdown, equating to around 70% of total revenue. “I've learnt it's more profitable to sell a family-sized tub than a scoop – and the tubs are going gangbusters. A father will buy three tubs and ask for cones to create an at-home experience,” says Jane Stuart, whose family owns Bodalla Dairy.  

Lockdown birthdays have also boosted sales of ice-cream cakes. “They take me three days to create and I'm selling at least two a day,” Stuart says. 

But it's not just creamy goodness enticing customers; Jane has also introduced a Buy-from-the-Bush Produce Market selling fresh produce from the South Coast and across regional NSW, including eggs from Cobargo and liquorice from Junee; plus installed a Bodalla Cheese fridge in-store featuring the Dairy's range of cheeses infused with native and bush flavours. These two initiatives now deliver a combined 16% of total revenue.  

Stuart designed her ice-creamery as a slice of the South Coast, which in a stroke of luck now brings welcome holiday inspo for stuck-at-home Sydneysiders. Eurobodalla images adorn the walls and there's a photo montage of customers' South Coast holidays. “I also decided to put the pozzetti [ice-cream cabinet] on the side, but at the back. It's almost like a church – people come in and look up to the menu of flavours,” Stuart says.  

It's these heavenly flavours that are also enticing people during lockdown, with the team introducing eight new flavours since lockdown. “Our new flavours take our customers on a holiday – camping, surfing, or diving.”  

The Let's Go Diving flavour has local Narooma kelp, while Let's Go Surfing has mango and coconut. Stuart recalls a customer sampling their best-selling Let's Go Camping, which features smoked gum leaves. “'He said this tastes like sitting by a campfire.' That's exactly what we were trying to achieve.”  

The artisan methods that achieve Bodalla's piquancy have their origins in Italy. “When we decided to start making ice-cream, we bought the equipment from two brothers who were heading home to Italy.”  

Stuart's mother Sandra McCuaig declared no deal unless they came to Bodalla for a year to teach them ice-cream making. The brothers taught McCuaig to make everything from scratch: she roasted hazelnuts, rubbed them between her hands and ground them. “She learned to do the same with lemons, limes and mango,” Stuart says.  

That's the secret: they can create ice-cream with any ingredient with the fresh milk from their own dairy. McCuaig is still chief ice-cream churner, working overtime to meet demand during lockdown. In fact, she's delivering her handmade ice-cream from Bodalla every 10 days now as opposed to the pre-lockdown fortnightly delivery.  

So, what's the next lockdown flavour? “I love walking through a dewy meadow at sunrise, so the next flavour Mum and I are making is morning dew and hay.” 

The decision to open in the city was a nostalgic one. As a child, Stuart lived in Woollahra before they purchased the farm in 1989. When a friend asked if she'd like their vacant space on Queen Street for an ice-creamery, she was curious. “I was coming back and forth from Bodalla anyway. I knew the space. It used to be a bric-a-brac shop Mum and I went to.” When Stuart arrived to see the store, she vowed to make the space Bodalla's Sydney home.  

Stuart is grateful the family business is now thriving – they contemplated closing Bodalla Dairy Farm after the 2019 bushfires swept through just 200 metres from their house. “The sky was red in every direction,” she says. “We lost thousands of litres of milk and hundreds of kilos of cheese because of power outages. That was hard.”  

Stuart says ice-cream is a magical thing because it absorbs so much flavour and reminds us of a more innocent time. “The feeling of nostalgia around ice cream comes from the fact that it's one of our first autonomous choices as a child. Your parent stands back while you choose your flavour and that's a huge memory.”  

bodalladairy.com.au 
148 Queen Street, Woollahra, NSW 2025 
@bodalladairy 

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The NSW Government via Destination NSW is sharing a series of NSW Success Stories – businesses of all types that have adapted their offerings to face the current environment and continue serving their community with a fresh approach and shining success. These innovative initiatives are nothing short of inspiring.  

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