About Us

In 1974, Emidio Quinzi returned to Italy to learn the secrets from the masters in confectionery.
In the early years, Joe Quinzi worked closely with his father in the family business as a young schoolboy. After school, Joe would learn firsthand all the procedures and special techniques that went into making their traditional sugared products. This is where his passion for confectionery grew.

After finishing high school, Joe spent nine months in Italy, Naples, training to become a pastry chef. Returning to Australia, he realised his heart was still in confectionery and followed his dreams to Arnott’s Mottram Menz. There he worked four years in the confectionery sector, specialising in chocolate manufacturing, chocolate panning, chocolate coating, chocolate enrobing and all aspects of confectionery manufacturing. But Joe’s heart was always at home as he jumped at the opportunity to return to his father’s factory. It was where he finally fulfilled his goal of being a qualified confectioner by the age of twenty eight doing an in-house apprenticeship confectionery course and a cert 4 in food manufacturing.Emidio was reaching his retirement, so he bought the business from his father, who was later joined by his wife, Antonetta, in 1996, 2 years after they married. Antonetta had worked in retail for over 10 years, which gave her great insight into the retail sector of the business.

Today, Emidio’s son, Joe, and his wife, Antonetta, carry on the family tradition in their purpose-built factory (built in 2009).
Their commitment to building on the European traditions, refining techniques and introducing new sweets has led Quinzi’s to become one of Australia’s major suppliers of wholesale sugar-coated confectionery. Emidio started manufacturing ‘Wedding Bomboniere’ and then began to diversify when his son Joe bought the business. Since then, his son, Joe, continues to manufacture an array of pan-confectionery and is often asked to create niche, unique products. This includes a range of chocolate products that have continued to expand over the years.