Bow Bakery offers a range of freshly-baked and locally produced products, something owner Mark Cocks said was increasingly rare in the industry.

"We make everything that we sell. It is fresh everyday. We make pies five nights a week, we make bread five times a week," he said.

"So when you are getting your stuff on Tuesday morning you know it has been made on Monday night to be fresh for the doors that open the next day."

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The business is owned and operated by brothers Mark and Stuart Cocks alongside their wives Caroline and Jacinta.

Aside from operating two shops in Rainbow and Hopetoun, the bakery also handles wholesale orders across the Southern Mallee, as well as food contacts with five local football clubs.

The Bow Bakery was started as a venture by Roger and Val Cocks in 1974.

From a young age Mark and his brother Stuart were involved in their parents' business, and after many years hanging around the bakery, purchased the business in 2001.

Stuart left school early, at age 15, to be an apprentice baker under his father. Together, the business expanded in Warracknabeal - when soon after Roger was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Mark joined his brother in the bakery soon after his father passed away. He said the shared tragedy strengthened their bond, and the two a natural pair in and out of the baking room.

"Obviously with tragedy going on very early in your life you become very close. You lose your old man at a young age, so we are best friends as well as siblings," he said.

"We are always bumping into each other, you virtually don't have a lot of time apart. If we weren't working together we would be on the sporting field together or doing community work together."

The brothers now employ two other fully-qualified bakers, with Stuart handling the bread side of things and Mark the pastry maestro.

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