Tag / Export

by brandsa2018

Hong Kong has a taste for Adelaide’s The Yoghurt Shop

Adelaide Central Market-based The Yoghurt Shop is expecting to triple export sales into Asia in the next 12 months, with tubs of the locally made dairy product hitting Hong Kong shelves in August.

The 15-year-old company has been working with retail giant, Dairy Farm International Holdings, to have products stocked at 50 sites across Hong Kong.

The Yoghurt Shop’s tubs will make their way into two of Hong Kong’s leading gourmet fine food stores, Oliver’s and Market Place by Jasons, which is considered one of the highest end chain supermarkets in the region.

The Yoghurt Shop managing director Simon Reynolds.

Launched in Adelaide by owner Simon Reynolds in 2003, The Yoghurt Shop hit the Brunei market in August last year, and has its sights set on the entire South East Asia region by 2022.

“We’re optimistic and excited to be able to have our customers try more of our range as we spread across the territory – this is part of our paced and community based rollout across South East Asia,” Simon says.

“Looking forward to the next 12 months, we expect to triple our export sales in South East Asia from 3% of our total business to around 8%, with expansion in Hong Kong and Singapore as well as entry to Thailand and mainland China.”

The Yoghurt Shop sells more than 25 million tubs of yoghurt at 2000 retailers across five countries, offering flavours such as apple crumble, cacao crumble, rhubarb, and cappuccino.

Simon Reynolds, right, after The Yoghurt Shop’s natural Greek yoghurt won gold at the Dairy Industry Association of Australia awards.

It also stocks a range of frozen yoghurts, granolas and frozen berries.

In 2017 The Yoghurt Shop’s natural Greek yoghurt was crowned best in the country by the Dairy Industry Association of Australia.

The Yoghurt Shop products can be found at Foodlands, IGAs, On the Run service stations, Drakes Supermarkets and independent grocers and cafés across South Australia.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

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by brandsa2018

Woodside Cheese Wrights in for a slice of the USA

Self-taught cheesemaker Kris Lloyd is celebrating the next milestone in her business Woodside Cheese Wrights which is now exporting to the USA.

The Adelaide Hills cheesemaker’s first shipment has landed and is being distributed to major cities including New York, California, Boston and Connecticut.

“It’s taken quite some time and reams of paperwork, but we are finally able to get the shipment across the line and we are thrilled,” says Kris.

“It’s incredible to see stores in the US on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook posting about our cheeses.”

Kris’ renowned Monet flower cheese has already made its way to the Big Apple with new packaging that extends the product’s shelf life from two weeks to six.

The Lemon Myrtle Chévre, Saltbush Chévre and the Artisan Buffalo Persian Style Feta are also hitting the shelves.

Stores stocking the 100% SA-owned cheeses include Plum Plums Cheese in Pound Ridge, New York, which Kris says sold out of Monet as soon as it arrived.

Woodside Cheese Wrights CEO Kris Lloyd with the famous State Brand shaped Monet. Photo by James Knowler / JK+Crew.

Woodside Cheese Wrights products can also be spotted at Bishop’s Orchards Farm Market in Connecticut and Hudson Valley Connect in New York.

With follow up orders already in the system, the Woodside cheese factory is preparing to send its second shipment.

Kris says there has been particular interest in Woodside’s native cheese range, which she has been producing for more than a decade with ingredients such as saltbush and lemon myrtle.

“It makes me realise, once again, that we should not take for granted what we have in our own backyard,” she says.

“This is something they don’t have so we can truly be competitive and give the distributor we are dealing with a point of difference to add to their portfolio.

“We are also working on trying to get Anthill – a goat cheese covered in Australian native green ants – to the US as well, as there is so much interest in that cheese.”

The Anthill caused a buzz among foodies in 2016 when it came 11th in a line-up of more than 3000 cheeses from all over the world at the World Cheese Awards.

Kris Lloyd was among the international judges.

Fellow judge Stephanie Ciano, who heads up the US Distribution Agency, describes Woodside cheese as “beautiful and delicious”.

“We are excited to have these lovely cheeses produced by Kris now available in the USA as they are a great representation of Australian terroir, tradition, and innovation,” she says.

Aside from her pursuits at Woodside Cheese Wrights, Kris is also behind Adelaide’s Cheesefest – an event celebrating the world of cheese – which is being resurrected in October after a three-year hiatus.

In 2017 she ran the inaugural Ferment the Festival in Rundle Park in 2017 which included not only cheese, but other fermented foods such as chocolate, bread, spirits and kombucha.

It is understood that Ferment will this year be incorporated into Cheesefest on October 27 and 28.

Visit I Choose SA to find out how you can support our state by choosing South Australian businesses, products and services.

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by brandsa2018

Goolwa Bakery pies want a slice of Asia

The Goolwa Bakery has made “food for the Fleurieu” for the past 105 years and now the long-established business is preparing to share its pies and pasties with Asia.

With help from Austrade, Goolwa Bakery owner Ben Hage is about to enter the Singaporean market after taking part in Business SA’s Export Ready Program recently.

Batches of pepper pies and pasties will be sent to Singapore in April 2018 for an international food and catering expo, with Ben also in discussion with an online Singaporean grocery retailer.

“The Goolwa Bakery has been going for 105 years, so it must be doing something right and why not share that with Asia?” he says.

“We need to step outside of our little comfort zone and explore.”

Goolwa Bakery will take its pepper pies and pasties to Singapore in April 2018.

The original Goolwa bakery is based in the seaside town, but within the past five years Ben has expanded the brand to four other sites across regional SA.

Stores are located at Hayborough and Stirling while the Seaford and McLaren Vale sites are both known as The Cottage Bakery.

All 120 products are baked at the original Goolwa Bakery site, with classic favourites including pepper pies, pasties, vanilla slices and chocolate eclairs.

“Our bakers start at 11pm–1am and then one of them leaves Goolwa at 2.30am to deliver the products to Stirling, then they’re back in Goolwa by 4.30–5am,” Ben says.

“We also have drivers who drop the products to the other stores seven days a week.

“Our head baker, Geoff Varcoe, he’s a Goolwa local and his attention to detail with the creams and cakes is absolutely outstanding.”

Head baker and Goolwa local Geoff Varcoe.

Established in 1912, the original Goolwa Bakery is one of the town’s longest running businesses.

It has changed hands a number of times, but many of the recipes have stayed the same.

Ben and his brother took it over five years ago from their parents who had owned it for six years prior.

Ben says opening the four other sites had provided year-round jobs for bakers and other staff.

“The biggest problem I saw (before opening four other sites) was that Goolwa Bakery is so seasonal due to everyone being down there in the summer,” he says.

“So the number of bakers went from six in peak season down to two in winter, which was hard to manage and wasn’t really creating a good workplace culture.

“So I thought, ‘how can we level out that rollercoaster of employment?’ The way to do that was to open a couple of other retail outlets by aiming for one new retail site a year.

All ingredients are sourced locally where possible, including eggs from Goolwa and meat and veggies from the Adelaide Hills.

“Now we employ seven bakers 52 weeks of the year and it’s gotten rid of that seasonality of the business.

“The workplace culture has improved because everyone is slightly more relaxed knowing they’re not getting cut when the peak season winds down.”

With the addition of four stores, the original bakery’s production volumes have also increased, prompting Ben to invest in two new ovens at Goolwa.

“We had the ‘old girl’, a six-deck oven that had been baking for 48 years,” Ben says.

“But she was so temperamental because she had hot spots and cold spots.

“Our bakers are a lot happier and our power bills have decreased.”

The original Goolwa Bakery is one of the town’s longest running business.

Ben says the Goolwa Bakery is strongly focused on delivering “the best food, best service and best culture”.

“Culture in a business is all about everyone working together and making it all happen,” he says.

“It’s not something that can be measured from KPIs and numbers, but it flows through to these things.

“It’s about the staff being on board, and if you’re front of house you need to provide the best service for the customers.

“We get good feedback and that’s why people keep coming back.”

Goolwa Bakery pastry is hand rolled, while ingredients are always sourced local where possible.

Whether in a quiet country town in South Australia or the skyscraper city of Singapore, Ben says it’s important for a meat pie to always be hot.

As for tomato sauce spilling onto one’s shirt mid-bite? Well, that’s inevitable.

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