Bellarine Wholefoods
A Round-up of the Bellarine Women's Network evening in October 2024
“To me Bellarine Wholefoods is more than just a store, it’s a community, a place to inspire each other to make conscious choices, and a very deep commitment to create a sustainable future for our children.
Our Vision for the store was to create a clean, comfortable, and welcoming shopping environment.
Our goal was to make it easier for people to make healthy choices, while supporting local suppliers and reducing waste.”
Alyssa McGuire's entertaining presentation at the BWN meetup was so engaging. She shared the joys and challenges of creating and running a small business, we laughed along with the trials and tribulations – and some of us even shed a tear, resonating with personal and family sacrifices a journey like this can entail.
Alyssa grew up in Canada and after graduating with a paralegal diploma decided to embark on some world travels. This eventually led her to Australia for one year, and 30 days before scheduled departure she met her now husband, eventually settling in his hometown of Drysdale and had two children.
Alyssa had always been interested in having a small business to achieve the “life balance” with a young family and earn an income. Little did she know the level of work ahead to achieve this dream of setting up Bellarine Wholefoods – inspired by the ‘bulk barn’ her nan took her to weekly as a child.
With the help of husband Kristian who is a talented builder, and their supportive family network, Bellarine Wholefoods opened its doors in May, 2022.
If you haven’t visited Bellarine Wholefoods – this is what you will find at her beautiful store.
- 500 items in store and online, pretty much anything you would keep in your pantry.
- 70-80 % of items are Australian grown, free from chemical pesticides and preservatives.
- They source from 70 different suppliers, 20 of which are local to the area.
Customers bring in their own containers, which they weigh and then fill with the goods they need. An environmentally sound way of shopping and makes putting away your groceries a breeze.
2.5 years on, they have sold over 36,000kg of unwrapped food – one can only imagine how much single use plastic that has been saved from landfill and oceans.
Our community is indeed fortunate that Alyssa’s life journey (so far) led her to our shores, which gives us access to buying produce in a mindful and environmentally responsible way. If you haven’t already visited Bellarine Wholefoods in Murradoc Road Drysdale, then head over and check it out.
Finally, Alyssa shared one of her favourite quotes from Anne Marie Bonneau
'We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly.
We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.'
