These viral, ultra-soft cinnamon scrolls are sell-outs in Coorparoo

In Sydney and Melbourne, in particular, specialist cinnamon scroll spots have been on a years-long hot streak. Drive past South Caulfield’s Sebby’s Scrolls and there’s a queue along North Road most times of the morning. Elsewhere, there’s Everyday, Heart Bakes and Candied Bakery.

It’s unusual for the Queensland capital to be that far behind on a particular trend when, these days, it’s sometimes leading them – think What’s Poppin’ or Sofu Gelato.

It means there was something of an open goal for Hamish Pearce and Rebecca Ferguson when they launched Jane Scrolls in August last year. Sure, there were bakeries and cafes doing cinnamon scrolls, and Cinnabon had long rocked into town (and perhaps its penetration and product – which, for a chain, is impressive – put off more independents from entering the market), but not so many operators were looking to drill down on this one thing and do it well.

Just 14 months later, Jane Scrolls is eight market stalls deep. Now, it’s opening its first bricks-and-mortar shop at Coorparoo, in the premises previously occupied by Allsop & England Organic Butcher.

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It’s a huge change for Pearce, in particular, who previously worked in sales at a property technology company and now runs Jane Scrolls day-to-day. Ferguson continues to work as a family lawyer but helps with the business in the background and in-store on weekends.

“We opened in Coorparoo on Saturday,” Pearce says. “We were running a buy-one-get-one-free and there was a stupid number of people here – the line was crazy. We decided early to bake the Sunday stock, otherwise we would have sold out at 9am.”

What are people queuing for? Hand-rolled scrolls in six varieties – five core flavours and one rotational – and three focaccia sandwiches, accompanied by coffee from Sydney’s Single O.

“The perfect scroll has to be pillow-soft,” Peace says. “It has to have lots of flavour – a distinctive flavour profile, whether it’s cinnamon or something funky like jam or whatnot – and it needs to be warm when you eat it. That’s the recipe for success.”

The core menu of five scrolls includes Vegemite and cheese, classic cinnamon, lemon blueberry, pecan and sticky date, and The Billionaire (Kinder Bueno and Oreo filling with a Biscoff cream-cheese topping). All are being hand rolled and prepared in the expansive Coorparoo kitchen using imported Saigon cinnamon (which tends to be more intense and sweeter than traditional Ceylon-style cinnamon).

House-baked focaccia sandwiches include braised chicken thigh with honey mustard aioli and fried shallots; whipped feta, avocado and tomato; and an AM-angled egg and bacon sanger with chipotle aioli.

The Single O coffee includes two blends via espresso, and a cold brew tap on the counter. There’s also a chocolate-milk tap using imported Dutch cocoa.

“We sell as much choccie milk as we do coffee,” Pearce says. “I think on the weekend we went through 50 litres of it.”

Pearce handled the design, branding and colour scheme himself. He’s kept it relatively simple, with a fetching counter of vertical tiles on the front and a stainless steel top, and a simple dine-in area out the back. Queueing punters can peer through a window into a prep room next door, with the main kitchen at the back.

Pearce and Ferguson looked at various premises before committing to Coorparoo but shrewdly tried to focus on former butchers’ and fish and chip shops, given their relatively large back-of-house areas.

“We ended up finding this one,” Pearce says. “We had a vision – which we’re still working on – but it’s had lots of foot traffic, and if you have that, that’s your business right there.”

Not that Pearce and Ferguson need foot traffic right now. Pearce says they were so taken aback by the response last weekend, they’re doing a second launch this weekend.

“It’s grand opening, take two,” he says. “And we’ll do buy-one-get-one-free again. We’re running that from 6am to 1pm on Saturday, and we’re closing on Friday just to make sure we can absolutely smash it.”

Open Mon-Fri 6am-4pm, Sat-Sun 6am-1pm

Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.