How the Qantas stand down spawned Italian street food in Queanbeyan

When Qantas stood down its Canberra-based staff due to COVID, Caterina Agnello, a Qantas employee, was one step ahead of the game, having a small catering business to fall back on. It was a side hustle that grew into Papa Joe’s food van, well known for its delicious and authentic Italian flavours.

Caterina came to catering through her role as the Make A Wish Port Ambassador for Qantas in Canberra.

“The role to host Make A Wish families for Qantas was one of my greatest honours as the foundation had supported my family when my son Charlie had leukaemia,” Caterina shares.

“To raise funds to make up wish boxes for these kids prior to their departure, I did an arancini drive at work and sold over 500 arancini to all the staff at the airport and donated all the profits to making up hampers for the kids and their families to take away with them on their holiday. The hampers would include fun age-appropriate things for the kids and added things for the parents like magazines and books, chocolates and lollies.”

From there the Qantas staff frequently requested Caterina’s arancini and she was able to turn their enthusiasm for her Italian cooking into a small catering business in which she started making lunches for her colleagues – pastas, meatballs, tiramisu and pipe your own cannoli kits.

She built a loyal following at Qantas, even taking on an obsessive search for the perfect focaccia and turned it into Focaccia Fridays for her colleagues.

“I was making 30 or 40 trays of focaccia every Friday,” says Cat.

When the stand down came, Caterina’s colleagues didn’t want to say goodbye to their catered Italian lunches and Papa Joe’s was born. The name was inspired by a family nickname for her husband.

“Our daughter Sofia used to call my husband Joe “Papa Joe” and it had a better ring to it than Mamma Cat,” Caterina shares with her usual jovial laugh.

Cat dove into the business and converted the bottom floor of their Queanbeyan home into a full commercial kitchen and began attending events and markets in the Queanbeyan and Canberra regions. Eventually the setting up and packing down of the marquee became too laborious and she invested in the fully branded red food van they now work from.

In talking with Cat and Joe, they are proud second-generation Italians and their families’ love of food is what governs everything they serve from their van.

“The arancinis that got me started are inspired by Joe’s father’s birthplace of Sicily and his mum is from Calabria. My dad is from Naples and mum is from Trieste in Northern Italy. I wanted to bring those flavours that our family love to Australia,” shares Cat.

During our chat, Joe sits back and lets Cat tell her story. An accident has meant he has been through eight back surgeries in nine years which has limited his involvement in the business but when it comes to talking about the food, Joe pipes up with enthusiasm.

“It’s all down to Cat; she would never serve anything she wouldn’t want to eat herself. We import many of our ingredients from Italy as the flavour matters. All our meats come from CBR meats; they’ve been a great supporter of the business since the start. They use family recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation; their sausages have so much flavour.”

The commitment to flavour and consistency Cat brings to the business means that with the cost of ingredients increasing, they are taking a hit. But Cat is adamant that they need to wear some of those costs as they want to sell their food at prices people can afford.

“The 20-litre barrels of olive oil that we buy went up from $140 to $360, but it’s the best and we don’t want to change it. We are all about consistency,” says Cat.

Cat takes the challenges of running a food business in a cost-of-living crisis all in her stride and laughs.

“We’ll never be millionaires. When I do my grazing boxes, if they have 20 people, I make it for 40. I can’t help myself. I have seven different types of crackers. I keep the bread and crackers separate so nothing is soggy. I pair the ingredients in the boxes with the things you should together so people are getting the right flavour pairings. I put so much thought into every box; I want it to be aesthetically pleasing and all about the flavours.”

Ever the enterprising businesswoman, Cat now has a cannoli caddy service where they can bring a portable caddy along to events. Packed full of their authentic Italian cannoli in a wide range of flavours, Cat is proud that they have some of the best cannoli in the Canberra region and the caddy is a way to share those with even more people.

With a commitment to consistency, Cat has been hesitant to change their menu but she’s excited to share that she has a new food concept coming to the Canberra region in 2025. She can’t share the details just yet, but she’s invested in new commercial equipment to help her produce a street food concept that is new to Canberra and set to be a sensation.

To find out what new Italian street food concept that Cat will be bringing to the region or to book Papa Joe’s for an event, follow it on Facebook.