The Producers, a Food Podcast. · A Deep in the Weeds Production

Brendan Gamze (Gamze Smokehouse) - full of pride

·25 min

Brendan Gamzee describes a family business rooted in Wangaratta. Gamzee Smokehouse makes ham, bacon, and other small goods by hand in small batches, using free-range animals and no chemical ingredients. The company has stayed in Wangaratta for its whole existence. Its first butcher shop began just down the road from the current manufacturing facility in 1986, when Felix Gamzee started building the family trade. Brendan explains that the move from a retail butcher shop to a broader manufacturing business was a shared effort. Felix brought deep butchering skill, established recipes, and years of experience, while Brendan brought business development and marketing. That combination helped the company reach more homes than a single local shop could serve. The products now travel across the eastern seaboard and into South Australia. Brendan speaks about that reach with clear pride, but the focus stays on work rather than self-promotion. He returns often to the idea that the food should be something they can stand behind. The business comes across as ethical, handcrafted, and closely tied to the people who make it. Brendan also reflects on the way his father was willing to adapt early. Felix was one of the first butchers to make pre-made meals and even employed a chef in the butcher shop. He also took on catering work from the shop before many others in the trade were doing the same. The small goods line came out of a more specific challenge. A customer with allergies to the chemicals used in traditional small goods asked Felix to create a different product. Rather than dismiss the request, he worked through it over many years with food scientists and ingredients manufacturers. That process led to a recipe that removed the chemical ingredients. Brendan presents that history as a practical example of how listening, persistence, and craft can reshape a business. The result is a company that stays local in identity while serving far beyond its original block.

As heard by us

A straightforward portrait of family craft and the work behind scale.

The piece follows Brendan Gamzee and the family smokehouse in Wangaratta with a plain, sturdy confidence. It moves from ham, bacon, sausages, and other small goods to the larger shift from a butcher shop to a purpose-built manufacturing facility, with Felix Gamzee's role sitting…

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Why you'd press play

You want a practical, human story about a family-run smallgoods maker in Wangaratta.

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