If you’re looking for fresh, handmade grain-free baking around Toowoomba, Gatton, Helidon or the Lockyer Valley, meet your local Primalista, Danielle O’Neill.

Danielle is based in the little town of Helidon, halfway between Gatton and Toowoomba, where she runs her Primal Alternative baking business from home.

A lifelong baker, Danielle wanted work that could fit around her life rather than the other way around. She’s semi-retired and helps care for her two older sisters, so having something she could do from home, in hours that suited her, was important.

And these days, you’ll also find her behind her stall at the Toowoomba Farmers Market, sharing her grain-free baking with locals looking for real-food alternatives.

Finding her groove at the Toowoomba Farmers Market

Danielle currently trades every second Saturday at the Toowoomba Farmers Market at the Cobb+Co Museum grounds.

She deliberately chose a farmers market because people are already there looking for fresh, local food and alternatives to what they’ll find in the supermarket.

And she’s finding plenty of people who are very happy to discover her.

“I get a lot of people who are very enthusiastic and say, ‘Oh, I’m so glad you’re doing this.’”

Danielle has also learned what her customers want.

Her loaves have become the stars of her stall, particularly the Low Carb Seed Loaf, Turmeric & Hemp Loaf and Pumpkin Loaf. She already has regular customers pre-ordering their favourites each fortnight. 

She also sells Primal Alternative baking mixes and granolas at the market, with other products from the range available to order.

Baking for people who need something different

For Danielle, one of the best parts of the business is being able to bake for people who might otherwise struggle to find food that works for them.

She loves baking anyway, so being able to use that skill to provide something useful for her community feels like a natural fit.

One of her regular customers follows a very strict diet and loves Danielle’s Turmeric & Hemp Loaf. She doesn’t have the time or inclination to bake it herself, so as she tells Danielle:

“You’re the cook, and I’m the buyer.”

Which rather perfectly sums it up!

As Danielle says, lots of people simply don’t bake anymore.

“For those of us who do, I just think it’s a good thing to provide to the community.” 

A business built around her life

Danielle’s business is deliberately simple.

On the week between markets, she plans her menu, checks ingredients, orders supplies and does her business admin.

Then on market week, she prepares mixes and granolas on Wednesday and does most of her baking on Thursday and Friday mornings before Saturday’s market.

At the moment, that means her actual production fits largely into two half-days a week. 

She also has a casual job alongside her Primal Alternative business, so she can adjust her baking schedule when she needs to.

There’s no grand plan to be at every market going. Danielle has found a rhythm that works for her.

What’s next for Danielle?

Danielle would now love to see her products available through some carefully chosen local stockists.

Customers have already started asking whether they can buy her products anywhere else during the week, so expanding into stockists around Toowoomba and Gatton feels like the natural next step. 

And after getting comfortable meeting customers and selling at the markets, she says that experience is helping build her confidence to take that next step too.

I love that Danielle’s business doesn’t need to look like anyone else’s.

She has found the products her customers want, the market that feels right for her and a baking schedule that works around the rest of her life.

And she’s still only in the early months of building it.

Buy from Danielle

If you’re in Helidon, Gatton, Toowoomba or the surrounding Lockyer Valley, you can buy directly from Danielle.

You’ll find her at the Toowoomba Farmers Market every second Saturday from 7am–12pm at the Cobb+Co Museum grounds. You can also order directly from Danielle for collection from Helidon or arrange local delivery. 

Primalista Danielle O’Neill
📍 Helidon, QLD 4344
📞 0421 127 805
✉️ danielle@primalalternative.com
Facebook: Primal Alternative By Danielle's Facebook Page

Danielle says Facebook is the best place to follow along, see what she’s baking and find out where she’ll be next.

Watch my chat with Danielle to meet the woman behind the baking and hear more about her Primal Alternative business.