The Beginning
The Nonna's Grocer concept was originally inspired by our great-grandparents who migrated from Salina, Italy to Daylesford, Victoria. There, they established a number of fruit and veg shops serving their local community. Our brand is a playful continuation of a family legacy centred around food, community, design and nostalgia.
Our Founder, Madeleine Hoy
After working in a demanding career as an events designer, Maddy decided that she wanted a change. Having been inspired by the family story, she decided to combine her design skills and creativity to experiment with produce candles.
This creative outlet quickly became her full-time job. Soon, there was too much demand for her to keep up with running the business alone.
The Family Legacy Continues
Thankfully, Issy (Maddy's younger sister) was the perfect partner to join Nonna's Grocer. Together they opened a pop-up store in Sydney's CBD, ran the production team and build close relationships with customers.
Here, they learnt how closely connected our customers were with the products and that they had created so many of their own family stories around them.
While the shop era was incredible - there were some challenges (for instance, there was literally no running water) and Maddy's chronic health condition flared up.
We realised that in order for Nonna's Grocer to continue to thrive, we would need to take a pause from retail, expand our supplier base and focus on our online and wholeasle business.
Sharing Nonna's Grocer With The World
Today, our team remains small and family oriented.
Our core focus is designing artisan, high quality products that evoke a sense of whimsy, joy and warmth.
We take care to design responsible and select makers who share high standards when it comes to social and environmental sustainability.
Nonna's Grocer has transformed from humble beginnings in Maddy's garage into a widely loved design universe.
We love celebrating the simple and important moments in life. Namely, the moments shared with family and friends - around a table of delicious food.