Faces behind the beard: our bakers

John Reid

John lives in Castlemaine with his family and has baked sourdough bread and worked with Scotch ovens since 1994.

John spent his formative baking years at Firebrand (Ripponlea) with Dave Brown. He honed his skills while managing Natural Tucker (North Carlton) and working at the New York Bagelry (Fitzroy). John created and managed Saint Chamas Sourdough Bakery in Melbourne for three years. He has also completed short stints at Irrewarra (Colac), Laurent (Como), Fruition (Healsville) and AG Bakehouse (Dandenong).

John helped to recommission the Port Arlington and Werribee Mansion Scotch ovens in his capacity as a consultant to the National Trust. He also saved the now heritage-listed Abbotsford Convent Scotch ovens.

John had a varied career - including floristry, botanical illustration, teaching, editing, carpentry and sculpture - before discovering his passion for baking.

Alan Reid

Al lives with his family in Woodend and has learned nearly everything he knows about sourdough baking from his brother John, starting in 2005.

Al has also had a varied career. He worked as a science communicator for a decade, performing shows and designing exhibitions for Scienceworks Museum (Melbourne), Questacon (Canberra) and the Australian Museum (Sydney). With his wife, he established the performing duo The Artful Scientists and toured Australia and internationally.

In 2000, Al completed a Masters in Environmental Management. He worked as an Environmental Economist for the NSW EPA, then with a Melbourne-based environmental NGO. He moved to Woodend in 2005 and brought his passion for sustainability to RedBeard.

Maxence Chicard

Max hails from France where he trained and worked in several leading Parisian boulangeries. Fortunately for RedBeard he met an Australian woman and moved to Trentham, where they are raising their daughter. We are teaching Max how to speak Australian mate, while he puts up with our Franglaise!

David Haines

Dave joined the Redbeard team in 2006, driving our delivery van and selling bread at markets. He made a careful study of RedBeard's products by eating lots of them, and is now putting his research to good use as he builds his baking skills. Dave has been an English teacher, teaches yoga, and enjoys performing in amateur theatre and as a community radio DJ.