About Us
At Carlyle Engineering, we're all about one thing: supplying the best quality bakery and hospitality equipment to Bakers, Chefs and Pastry Chefs around Australia.
We're a family-owned company based in Clayton, Victoria and we've been manufacturing specifically bakery and catering equipment since the 1930's.
We know that bakers, chefs and other pastry professionals are constantly looking for ways to improve their businesses, so we focus on delivering quality products at great prices, offering promotions and specials throughout the year that will help keep your business moving forward without breaking your budget.
We are proud to say that all our Sales staff are qualified Bakers and or Chefs so you can be confident you are working alongside people who really understand your needs.
As well as manufacturing our own equipment, we also operate as a direct importer and agent for other leading manufacturers here in Australia and around the world. Some Oven brands we supply include The Baxter Rack Oven which is built in the U.S.A. and our Ultima Deck Ovens - built to Carlyle’s high standards for a perfect bake.
We also supply commercial kitchen and hospitality equipment for restaurants, cafes, bars, hotels, resorts and sporting clubs etc. including dishwashers, refrigeration, convection ovens, food processing appliances and even outdoor dining furniture.
Our extensive range of manufactured products includes:
Deck Ovens Convection Ovens Baking trays Mixers Pastry Sheeters Dishwashers Bakery Racks /Trolleys Bread Display Racks Bread Pans Rotating Ovens Fridges Donut Fryers Self-cutting Pie Tins Cooling Wires Bread Slicers Freezers Pie Pallet Trays Pastry Cutters Cake tins Proving Baskets Bun Moulding Plates Dough Dividers & Rounders Ingredient Tubs and Bins Stainless Steel Benches Humidity units Provers and Prover rooms Muffin trays Bread Crates and much more!
When the name “Carlyle Engineering” is mentioned, it is immediately linked to the manufacture and supply of a range of quality products and services to the bakery industry.
It is a name with a long history, being founded some 150 years ago and formerly known as W. Fitzgerald & Sons.
1870
The company itself developed back in the early gold rush days when the founder, John Fitzgerald, made all sorts of tin ware and mining equipment, servicing mining communities in the Ballarat area working from a horse drawn wagon.
John was later succeeded by his son, who in turn, handed the business to William Fitzgerald, the grandson of the original founder.
1900
About the turn of the century, the family decided it was time to move to Melbourne and they set up business in Elizabeth Street, Melbourne.
This factory later extended and moved to Bedford Place, North Melbourne.
1935
A second factory was opened in Swanston Street, Carlton, a move which saw the company able to operate right through the depression and being able to sustain employment for a number of men.
When plastic kitchenware came on the scene the premises in North Melbourne was closed. The company then focused on manufacturing quality products for the bakery industry.
1970
Lyle Smith bought the company from the Fitzgerald family.
1980
The company worked closely with Frank Seton (OA) in developing a range of ‘self-cutting’ pie tins and welding them together, to make pie tin trays. Carlyle's Factory Manager at the time then took the concept and refined it into the Carlyle pie pallet which Frank Seton used in conjunction with his pie meat cooker/depositor, to revolutionize pie making for pastry cooks.
1985
Lyle bought in his son John as General Manager.
John had run the family repetition engineering business successfully for the past 16 years. Within months a large factory was purchased at Clayton and all operations were moved there including, the repetition engineering business “De Luxton Engineering”.
1986
Fitzgerald and Sons - the company that had operated continuously for well over a hundred years had a new name, Carlyle Engineering Pty Ltd.
The business was in its manufacturing ‘hay day’, producing thousands of pie pallets, hundreds of baker’s racks and many other product lines for Bakers and Pastry cooks.
1990
Carlyle Engineering acquired the Rota Bake business and began building rack ovens, cool room panelling, provers and humidity units for the provers.
The company also expanded into the importation, sale and servicing of bakery machinery including spiral mixers, planetary mixers, pastry sheeters and bread slicers.
The company continued to expand its range of imported products with the addition of the Ultima deck ovens, built exclusively for Carlyle, to suit the needs of Australian bakers, and the Baxter Rack oven from the U.S.A. - imported by Hobart but sold exclusively in Victoria and Tasmania by Carlyle.
Another addition was the Bun Divider/Rounder designed and built for Carlyle in Asia which is equal or better in quality of build and performance to anything out of Europe. These beautifully designed quality machines are still the best value for money on the market today.
2023
Carlyle Engineering to this day is still owned and run by John Smith, Carlyle (Lyle) Smith’s son. A family business that has grown to be one of the leading suppliers Australia wide for both Bakery and Food service equipment and machinery.