M&G Caiafa: A Friday Morning at Queen Victoria Market
It’s early on a Friday morning at the Queen Victoria Market. I’ve done an interview in the Meat and Fish Hall. Now, during the course of idle research, I’m wandering through the Dairy Hall when I ask a vendor from the M&G Caiafa bread shop about the pizza bases on display.
The pizza bases provide an entrée to conversation. I ask the vendor, Mary-Jane Caiafa, how long she’s had the stall.
It’s been in the family for more than 50 years, she says.
Whoa!
I buy the pizza bases. A week later, I return.
From San Marco in Lamis to North Melbourne
Mary-Jane’s parents, Michelo (known as Michael) and Graziela (Grace) Caiafa, were Italian immigrants who were born in the same village, San Marco in Lamis, a province of Foggia.
Michael’s family emigrated when he was seven years old. They lived in Capel Street, North Melbourne.
Grace’s family emigrated when she was three, and they lived in nearby Flemington Road.
Although they had grown up within a few blocks of each other, Michael and Grace did not meet until they were at a dance at the San Remo Ballroom in Carlton North when they were teenagers. They married soon afterwards and settled in Essendon.
Opening the Stall
In 1974, Michael was 26 when he opened the business in the stall where the Herbert Adams company had sold its famous pies. M&G Caiafa would be a distributor for produce from local bakeries.
A year later, in 1975, Mary-Jane was born. Michele and Michael junior soon followed. A decade later, Amanda was born.
Throughout this period, Michael senior left home midway through the night to start work. Grace helped out when she could. The couple were affectionate, always hugging and laughing.
Michael Senior took out a second lease on the old chocolate stall next door. He used the extra space to install a peanut butter machine. Jars of the stuff – about 30 kilograms a week – ran off the shelves.
A Family Tested
Business was going along nicely before, in 1987, the family was rocked by the news that Grace had been struck by a brain tumour. Four years later, she gave birth to Amanda, but her health remained a concern.
In 1995, when Grace was 45 years of age and Amanda was only four, Grace’s brain tumour took its final toll. Her husband was heartbroken. He fell into a pit of grief.
Before the funeral, Mary-Jane was still in shock when a funeral director from Tobin Brothers asked what she was planning to do. The funeral director could see that Michael Senior was in no state to return to work. Mary-Jane realised that, at 19 years of age, she would have to step up.
Her siblings, Michele and Michael Junior, were aged only 17 and 13 years respectively, but they too stepped up. The trio managed to maintain orders and sell the goods. Through a combination of nous and work ethic, they ran the business until their father was ready to return.
All these years later, Michael Senior still works away in the background. But his oldest three have run the place between them for a long time.
Behind the Counter
On the morning of the interview, Mary-Jane and Michael Junior are in the stall. Mary-Jane leans forward, one hand on the counter, the other on her hip, while Michael passes behind her. I ask Mary-Jane whether they ever get on each other’s nerves.
“Not really.”
I ask for the secret.
“The key is reading the room,” she says. “If one of us has got something on their mind, the others sense it.”
Michael says everything goes smoothly as long as you agree with Mary-Jane.
Mary-Jane adds a subtle smile to her slight lean. She says her brother spends more time wandering around the market than serving behind the counter.
“He’s got the gift of the gab,” she says. “He can say whatever he wants to customers, and they think it’s hilarious.”
Related reading: A Life in Sausages: Max Thompson of Queen Victoria Market
A Family Affair
When I return a few days later, Michele is behind the counter, alongside Mary-Jane and Michael. Amanda is also there. She’s a teacher, but she returns to the stall to see her father and siblings. They all laugh and rib each other. It’s a fun place to be.
For several years, the Caiafa family made hundreds of kilograms of muesli to fulfil an annual order for the Great Victorian Bike Ride. Apples had to be cut and peeled by hand.
They became the first distributors to take on Irrewarra bread from Colac. They brought in cakes from Carlton and croissants from North Melbourne. In recent years, Portuguese tarts have become the thing.
Part of the Market’s Fabric
While I watch the exchange of goods for cash, two customers arrive in succession. As it happens, both have been buying their bread from M&G Caiafa for 45 years.
Both reveal that visits to the Caiafa stall are part of their weekly ritual. They like the quality of the goods. They like the friendliness of the family.
The two customers buy their bread and walk off happy. They know the stall will still be there next week. They know it will be there for many years. A visit to M&G Caiafa is just part of being at the market.
Join one of Paul Daffey’s weekly tours of the market and nearby laneways, called Journey to Dairy Hall. Book here.
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