Our story



The happy faces behind Big Bite Dutch Treats are Melanie and Richard Smit. 

In 2010 they touched down by plane in Darwin straight from The Netherlands, only to  get on the next plane to Kununurra and drive many more hours to their new home: Halls Creek in the beautiful Kimberley (WA). On arrival, It was ‘only’ 40C hotter than the Netherlands! 

With a tiny general store and 4 hours to a ‘real’ supermarket Melanie started experimenting with baking Dutch treats while Richard was working as a youth worker. Melanie was given her very first speculaas plank, started mixing her own spices and baked heaps of speculaas. Secretly they already had dreams about a Stroopwafel ‘kraam’ (stall).

They realised what massive cookie monsters the Dutch are: not in Halls Creek, not in Darwin, Broome or Perth, nowhere did they get a bicky with their coffee! In the Netherlands, every cuppa comes with a small treat.

The impressive outback was the start of many adventures throughout Australia. Richard and Melanie survived Wolf Creek Crater and visited the Pinnacles. The white beaches and blue ocean of the Whitsundays were their next home. And from the red dirt of Tom Price in the Pilbara, they moved to South Australia, near the the hills of the Barossa Valley. 

Onwers Richard and Melanie - Big Bite Dutch Treats

Over the years they have repeatedly been told: you should go to Tasmania, you will fit right in, they are just like you. So they moved to Tasmania. The dream of baking stroopwafels was stil lingering and they decided to introduce Australians to the world of sweet Dutch treats. They set about creating a business making them right out of their very own Dutch bakery in the Northern Midlands at the border of Tasmania’s central highlands. Since starting their business many loyal fans have found their way to the authentic Dutch treats and delight in the fact that their sweet treats remind them of Holland and the nostalgia associated with the family members who used to cook similar delicious treats for them. 

Richard and Melanie pride themselves on cooking with only fresh Australian ingredients and they can be purchased online or at shows and events across Tasmania. Once you have a Dutch treat we’re sure you won’t go back to an unaccompanied cuppa!

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Owners Richard and Melanie with a customer at their stall - Big Bite Dutch Treats