How Tarts Anon Went From Lockdown Side-Hustle to Melbourne Institution With Vanrooy Machinery
What started as a way to pass the time during Melbourne’s COVID-19 lockdown has become one of the city’s most celebrated specialty food destinations.
Tarts Anon, founded by fine dining pastry chef Gareth Whitton and his partner Catherine Way, is the story of what happens when world-class technique meets a simple, singular focus.
Vanrooy Machinery is proud to supply the equipment at the heart of their production — including Venix San Giorgio Combi Ovens that Gareth relies on to deliver the consistency and precision his tarts demand.
Industry: Specialty Tart Shop and Patisserie
Location: Richmond and Collingwood, Victoria
Their Vanrooy Equipment: Venix San Giorgio 4 Tray Combi Oven, 2x Venix San Giorgio 6 Tray Combi Ovens, Tekno Stamap LAM Pastry Sheeter, Escher M50P Spiral Mixer and Gemm 20 Tray Retarder Prover
When Dinner by Heston Blumenthal closed its doors at the start of Melbourne’s lockdown in 2020, head pastry chef Gareth Whitton suddenly found himself with something he hadn’t had in years: time. With 18 years of fine dining experience behind him and nowhere to channel it, he did what any pastry chef would do. He started baking.
Gareth and Catherine — his life and business partner — couldn’t eat all the tarts themselves, so word began to spread.
First through a flyer drop in their apartment building.
Then through Instagram.
Then, seemingly overnight, through all of Melbourne.
Within weeks, Tarts Anon was the lockdown bakery on everyone’s lips, winning a devoted following built entirely through DMs, Monday morning order announcements and weekend pick-ups from an undisclosed Richmond location.
The vision was straightforward: simple yet magnificent tarts, executed with the kind of technique and precision that belongs in Michelin-starred restaurants but feels at home in a bakery. Classic flavour combinations — caramel and chocolate, lemon and rhubarb, cherry and almond — tried and tested across Gareth’s career and delivered with a level of craft that set Tarts Anon apart from anything else on the market.
In true Tarts Anon fashion, it wasn’t meant to be a business at all. But the demand was undeniable.
From Apartment Flyers to Cult Destination
The concept quickly outgrew the home kitchen. With a customer base that had grown from a handful of neighbours to thousands of Instagram followers, Gareth and Catherine needed a space that could keep up.
In September 2021, Tarts Anon founded its flagship location in Cremorne — a kitchen and pick-up storefront where tarts sell out within minutes of becoming available each week.
Since then, the business has continued to grow. Tarts Anon now operates two locations — Richmond and Collingwood — each one a reflection of the same commitment to quality, technique and approachability that Gareth and Catherine have held from the very beginning.
The operation has always been defined by a clear division of labour. Gareth bakes. Catherine does everything else. It is a partnership that has scaled from a two-person side-hustle into a team, with more staff coming on board as the business has expanded — but the philosophy has never wavered. Do one thing. Do it exceptionally well.
The Equipment Behind the Tarts
At the level Tarts Anon operates, every variable matters. Pastry this precise — shells this consistent, finishes this refined — demands an oven that performs to the same standard every single time. That is exactly what the Venix San Giorgio 4 Tray Combi Oven and his 2x Venix San Giorgio 6 Tray Combi Ovens deliver.
Designed specifically for patisseries and bakeries, the Venix San Giorgio is built around the principle of perfect temperature control. Its dynamic air circulation system with inverter technology optimises heat distribution throughout the entire oven, while the bi-directional reversing fan system ensures even, consistent cooking across every tray. For a product as technically demanding as a Tarts Anon tart — where the pastry shell, the filling and the finish must all be exactly right — that kind of reliability is not a nice-to-have. It is essential.
The configurations of the Venix San Giorgio Combi Ovens maximise baking capacity without sacrificing precision. A 7-inch touchscreen with intuitive controls makes these ovens straightforward for the team to navigate, while the automatic pre-heating setting saves time during busy production runs. WIFI connectivity allows for remote monitoring, and the integrated self-clean system keeps maintenance simple and the kitchen hygienic. With a maximum cooking temperature of 280 degrees and a compact footprint, they integrate seamlessly into a working patisserie kitchen without compromise.
Complementing the oven is the Tekno Stamap LAM Pastry Sheeter, which brings the same level of precision to Gareth’s pastry work — ensuring every sheet is rolled to exactly the right thickness, consistently, across every production run. Rounding out the setup, Gareth also works with an Escher M50P Spiral Mixer and a Gemm 20 Tray Retarder Prover — both chosen to support the demands of high-volume, detail-driven production where consistency at every stage of the process is non-negotiable.
Together, this equipment gives Tarts Anon the technical foundation to produce at the standard their customers expect — and that Gareth has always held himself to.
With that foundation firmly in place, Tarts Anon is now looking beyond tarts entirely. Gareth and Catherine are planning to expand their range into new products and formats — an exciting next chapter for a business that has already redefined what a patisserie can be. Having the right equipment behind them means that same obsessive standard of quality will carry through to everything they create next.
For us at Vanrooy, working with Gareth and Catherine is a genuine privilege. They have built something remarkable — a business that started with a flyer in an apartment building and became one of Melbourne’s most sought-after food destinations. The craft behind every tart is extraordinary, and we are proud to play a part in making it possible.
