Paul Van Rooy was a Dutch baker and pastry cook who immigrated to Australia after the Second World War, bringing with him his wife and two children. The family moved around the country before finally settling in Melbourne and establishing Red Mill Cakes in Hampton Street, Hampton in 1952.

Following family European tradition, John Van Rooy trained as a baker and pastry cook under his father’s tutelage and eventually started his own bakery, also called Red Mill Cakes, in Dandenong. Unlike the Hampton Street original, this facility was created as a wholesale manufacturing plant to service the factory canteens around Dandenong, and the cafes and restaurants from Mount Dandenong to the Mornington Peninsula.

The equipment company started simply out of necessity. John Van Rooy needed new ovens and he did not like what was on offer on the market here, nor the prices they were wanting for it so he went to a bakery exhibition in Europe and found what he was looking for. He imported the first 2 rack ovens into Australia, installed one in his bakery,then sold the second one for enough to pay for his own oven also and thought “I’m onto something here!” So very Dutch!

The equipment sales originally took place out of the bakery but sensing the potential, he established Van Rooy Machinery in 1978. In 1988 the bakery business was sold, leaving the family to concentrate on the equipment business.

In March 1983, Van Rooy Machinery NZ Ltd was established in Auckland, New
Zealand.

David Van Rooy started with the company in 1985 and was apprenticed to the service technicians, gaining knowledge for the workings and operation of all the equipment in the ever expanding portfolio. This in-depth engineering knowledge and experience and baking knowledge is a key advantage when sourcing new equipment for our market.

As the years progressed, so did the roles with David becoming Managing Director shortly before the passing of John in December 2001.