Key opportunities unveiled for WA premium food
Western Australian premium food and beverage producers are taking the next steps in their business journeys to capture exciting growth opportunities identified in the recently released Premium Agrifood Market Opportunity (PMO) report.
Almost 250 WA premium food and beverage stakeholders attended a series of events throughout the state in July, to hear about key findings of the market trend research report.
The report was launched by Minister for Agriculture and Food, The Hon Alannah MacTiernan MLC, at Whipper Snapper Distillery in East Perth on 6 July.
Minister MacTiernan said the report was about developing the full potential of Western Australian food and beverage businesses that were adding value to raw produce, growing jobs and building the state’s economy.
She enjoyed speaking with producers at the event and endorsed the report as an interesting guide for government and industry to work together to create exciting new opportunities.
Commissioned by the department’s Food Industry Innovation (FII) project and produced by Coriolis Research, the report identifies new and emerging premium food and beverage products that add value to WA’s abundant raw materials.
It highlights export market value up to $4 billion with a focus on domestic and Asian export markets, and analyses the capacity for WA businesses to capture this potential value.
Food and beverage value-add is a major contributor to the Australian economy, providing about 250 000 jobs and generating $26 billion in export value. The industry has increased by 30% in the past seven years.
While there is an emerging value-added food and beverage sector driving innovation in WA, it is small, diverse and could benefit from targeted development.
Stakeholders who attended the Perth launch were keen to hear which products made the shortlist of 20 high-growth, high-value opportunities for WA - narrowed down from more than 500.
The key product opportunities are wide-ranging, from organic beef and specialty breads to baby food, cheeses, cider, oat milk and alternative dairy.
Many generous WA producers provided premium food and beverage products for grazing tables at the launch, showcasing the high calibre and diversity of value-added food processing already happening in the state.
A full digital copy of the report is available for download at: agric.wa.gov.au/pmoreport
For more information email: FoodIndustryInnovation@dpird.wa.gov.au
| 20 high-value premium product opportunities (PMO report) |
|---|
| Baby food (excluding infant formula) |
| Specialty breads |
| Organic/biodynamic beef |
| Oat milk/alternative dairy |
| Wagyu beef |
| Premium soft drinks |
| Cheeses |
| Alcoholic spirits |
| Dips/spreads |
| Breakfast muesli/cereals |
| Healthy snacking |
| Cured/continental meats |
| Cider |
| Meat snacks |
| Premium grains |
| Chilled pasta |
| Olives/marinated vegetables |
| Fermented foods |
| Nut butter |
| Cooked/smoked/marinated seafood |
Market trend report goes regional
Following the Perth launch, the Premium Agrifood Market Opportunity (PMO) report was also profiled across regional Western Australia.
Producers heard about high-value product opportunities specific to the Great Southern, Wheatbelt and South West regions with workshops delivered in Carnarvon, Geraldton, Northam, Merredin, Albany, Manjimup and Bunbury.
The key opportunities were developed based on criteria such as presence and scale of existing producers, success of global peer regions in the category, and comparative advantage in producing raw ingredients.
Other complementary reports produced by the department were featured as part of the regional roadshow including the Asian Market Success program’s Target Market Opportunities report and the Agricultural Sciences R&D program’s Pathways to Competitiveness report.
The PMO report will influence Food Industry Innovation priorities ensuring the project team focuses on market demand and delivers tangible commercial outcomes.
Within the report, gap assessments highlight improvement in marketing, awareness activities and sales capabilities as key focus areas for the growth of WA’s premium food and beverage businesses.
The project will provide identified WA premium food and beverage businesses seeking growth, with access to targeted resources, knowledge, skills, and information about domestic and international market opportunities.
WA premium food producers undergoing an active growth phase will be offered a range of tools and support services to address their business needs and gaps such as mapping pathways to export, competitor analysis, branding and marketing training, plus links to in-market officers and case managers.
Survey explores Great Southern food growth
Growth potential for the Great Southern region’s value-add food sector is the focus of a survey report released by the department’s Food Industry Innovation (FII) project in partnership with Regional Development Australia (RDA) Great Southern.
The 2016 Survey of Food Production and Processing in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia report, was launched on 27 July at Wilson Brewing Company in Albany to coincide with the release of the Premium Agrifood Market Opportunity report.
About 45 industry stakeholders attended the event to hear about the region’s existing value-add food production and processing activities, and opportunities for the local industry to expand into domestic and export markets.
The agriculture sector dominates the Great Southern region both in production value and employment numbers. However, the majority of food produced in the region is currently exported in its raw form with no value-adding.
The FII project is committed to growing the value of the state’s agrifood sector by identifying opportunities to value-add to WA’s abundant raw product. This requires a detailed understanding of the current and future capacity of regional food production and processing.
Of all agricultural sectors covered by the survey, five were identified as having additional development potential: dairy, brewing and distilling, aquaculture, salmon processing, and fruit and berry production.
To read a full copy of the report visit: RDA Great Southern WA.
Producer profile: Whipper Snapper Distillery chief distiller, James McKeown
Many thanks to Whipper Snapper Distillery in East Perth and Wilson Brewing Company in Albany for being such generous hosts and opening up your wonderful venues for the launch of the Premium Agrifood Market Opportunity report.
Guests in attendance were fortunate to hear the inspiring business stories of our Perth and regionally based event hosts.
Below, Whipper Snapper chief distiller James (Jimmy) McKeown shares his business journey and passion for craft whiskey distilling.
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How did Whipper Snapper Distillery begin?
Whipper Snapper Distillery was established in 2013 by me, my brother-in-law Alasdair and many other kind-hearted people. I grew up on a farm in Narrogin and learnt many farming lessons during those foundation years.
Our business journey started where most great Australian stories do, with camaraderie. An Australian and US pilot shared two great loves in WWII – their love of bombers and whiskey. The war ended and they were separated by oceans and time, but their recipe lived on. The Australian pilot just happened to be Alasdair’s neighbour, Vic.
Fifty years after the recipe reached Aussie shores, veteran Vic continued to distil whiskey and moonshine in his back shed in Scarborough. Young Al was helping Vic write his memoirs, but more importantly, shared his neighbour’s love of whiskey. The shed became their escape and Vic passed on his recipe to his new comrade Al, and Al then shared it with me.
Al and I made our way to Colorado, tracking down a relative of Vic’s fellow WWII pilot. We found Coop who shared his love of whiskey and had refined the same recipe from WWII over time. Coop’s life was whiskey and he had recently sold his acclaimed distillery to settle down and retire – until he heard a story shared in a small shed across the world in Scarborough.
Al and Jimmy took their love of whiskey across the world to Scotland, where Frank, a man who had been distilling for more than 50 years, helped them refine their recipe. Frank was the rock star our recipe needed! With the determination of two young Aussie men, and a recipe refined from one side of the world to the other, Whipper Snapper was born.
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How did Whipper Snapper get its name?
“What makes you young little guys think you can take on the big names of whiskey?” Our answer – “We may be young Whipper Snappers, but this is our obsession and we were meant to share this recipe".
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What does Whipper Snapper produce?
Our Upshot Whiskey is a corn-based whiskey and we source the corn from Kununurra. We also make a wheat whiskey unique to us, using wheat from Narrogin. Perhaps most interestingly, we produce a quinoa whiskey sourced from our friends at 3 Farmers Quinoa in Narrogin.
Upshot has won two prestigious awards for Best Australian Corn Whiskey in London at the World Whiskey Awards and in America, the home of bourbon, winning Best International Corn Whiskey. Cameron Syme at Limeburners in Albany and Margaret River, has also been placing this state on a global stage for years for whiskey production.
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What is the state of the Australian whiskey industry and what global trends are you seeing?
The Australian craft spirits movement is now gaining some serious traction. There are now about 200 micro-craft distilleries in the country, about 60 of them focused on whiskey. Craft distilling, although still in its infancy in WA, offers plenty of opportunity. With help from the government through projects like Food Industry Innovation, we could really see micro-distilleries like us expand to the point of being able to sustain a healthy export market.
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How do you see the future of the premium food and beverage sector in WA?
Value-adding opportunities for the agriculture sector in terms of whiskey production are out there, as well as planting high-value crops and specialty malting grains for the production of whiskey and beer. As a craft producer, we thrive in a collaborative environment. Industry collaboration is essential to share our business learnings and experiences.
Producer profile: Wilson Brewing Company director and brew master, Matt Wilson
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How did Wilson Brewing Company begin?
Our business has been operating for about 15 months now. Our first six months were spent doing packaged kegs for wholesale purposes. At the start of February this year, we opened our bar and brewery door to the public so people could come in and sample our produce.
We’ve been lucky that recent changes to legislation have allowed us to sell our beer by the glass. From conception to now has been about five years.
We identified a niche market in Albany. We were lacking a local beer in the area and saw a gap in the market that we could fill. Using the freshest local and Australian ingredients, we wanted to hand craft an alternative to mass-produced commercial beer.
I’m a boilermaker by trade but didn’t want to head down that line of work for the rest of my life. I was home brewing at that stage - I’m a self-taught brewer. I worked fly-in, fly-out for three years and during that time, developed a business plan for Wilson Brewing Company with my wife Jessica.
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Tell us about the Wilson Brewing Company brand and products?
We came up with a business brand linked to the Albany area. We have a boat in our logo, the ‘Pelen Wilson’, and thought a maritime-themed business would go down well with the Albany locals. We have five beers in our core range from mid-strength through to pale ales, blonde ales and brown ales.
We also run a monthly seasonal beer using a key local ingredient sourced directly from Albany. For example, we lined up pearl oysters through Great Southern Shellfish to produce an ‘Oyster Stout’ for the middle of winter. We’re also working with local wineries to blend wines with beer.
Bringing beer styles to Albany that people might not have been exposed to before or can’t get fresh, has been a big driver for us. We’re very grain reliant and hop intensive – we use only the freshest local and Australian ingredients.
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How important is the local community to the success of your business?
According to a recent Australia-wide Independent Brewers’ Association Survey, about 65% of independent brewing businesses are located in regional and rural areas. Many of these small to medium independent businesses are putting money back into their local communities.
People often leave regional communities to work on mines and oil rigs for example, but the brewing industry is drawing people back to work locally.
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What is your business growth strategy?
We’re in a booming industry for craft or boutique beer, and we can see that especially in the South West region. Secondary industry is starting to develop as a result of the boom. When we first started Wilson Brewing Company it was just me and my wife. We now have four full-time employees and one part-time employee.
We are hoping to undergo expansion in the coming months and quadruple our product – there is currently a large demand for it. Our plan is to work on expanding the business towards domestic and export growth, employing more locals and making good beer!
Business workshops to plan and prosper
Western Australian premium food producers looking to stage their product for luxury domestic and international markets participated in a series of free workshops mid-year. The Plan, Prepare, Prosper business training workshops were hosted at the department’s Specialised Food Centre in Albany.
The workshops were delivered by professional WA business facilitators and designed to help food businesses grow and develop strategies to manage the challenges of running a business. Workshop topics included Strategic Planning, Financial Management, and Sales and Marketing.
Food Industry Innovation project manager Kim Antonio said the workshops were designed to help local food businesses develop robust strategic plans to inform decision making in times of risk and opportunity.
“Regional food businesses operating in isolation can face a mammoth task competing against established international brands and identifying new markets," Mr Antonio said.
Specialised Food Centre manager Nikki Poulish said the workshops provided invaluable opportunities for businesses operating within WA’s premium agrifood sector to identify similarities, share their knowledge and experiences, and develop a collegial network.
“The workshops aim to drive growth, strengthen and sustain local food businesses, and build resilient rural communities,” Mrs Poulish said.
Most participants were seeking ways to expand their sales and market share, and their businesses ranged from start-ups to well established. The workshops gave them an opportunity to openly share their business successes and challenges with industry peers.
The Food Industry Innovation project will continue to offer a range of metropolitan and regionally based training opportunities in 2018, from business planning through to advanced export.
For more information about upcoming courses, email: FoodIndustryInnovation@dpird.wa.gov.au
Hands-on courses help food businesses grow
Premium food and beverage producers looking to grow their businesses are taking advantage of a series of short training courses aimed at improving their competitiveness and expanding into domestic and international markets.
Five workshops were held in the Theatrette at DPIRD South Perth recently, attracting more than 150 industry participants: Are You Ready for Export? (25 July), Fast and Furious Innovation (26 July), Accessing eCommerce Markets (6 September), Winning Export (31 October), and Food and Beverage Labelling (6 November).
Due to strong interest from industry, the Food and Beverage Labelling workshop was also held regionally in Margaret River.
The courses are being hosted by the department’s Food Industry Innovation (FII) project in partnership with Food Innovation Australia Limited (FIAL), Export Council of Australia (ECA), the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science’s Business Entrepreneurs’ Program, and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
Are You Ready for Export? focused on how to view export as part of a broader business growth strategy. Participants were guided through developing a personalised export market plan using a self-diagnostic tool.
Winning Export provided more detailed discussion addressing export questions such as: Where to export?, Who to target and why?, What to take?, How to enter?, Where to place your products?, How to activate your brand? and How to price your products?
Real business innovation challenges were the focus of the Fast and Furious Innovation course including best practice innovation insights from food and start-up industries, practical frameworks and tools.
The eCommerce workshop covered topics such as international e-commerce insights, cultural intelligence, high-demand food sectors, marketing strategies, protecting your brand, and managing intellectual property protection.
Food and Product Labelling participants indicated there was a need for more workshops on this topic, specifically on Country of Origin labelling.
The course covered a range of topics including food labelling requirements, consumer wants and trends in food labelling, common ingredients and ingredients consumers avoid, the rise of clean and transparent labelling, country of origin labelling, and environmental and socio-economic factors in labelling.
FII project manager Kim Antonio said the team had identified training and knowledge sharing among a range of support tools to help WA premium food and beverage producers address their business needs and gaps, and overcome barriers to growth.
“We are pleased to provide access to targeted resources, knowledge, skills, and information on domestic and international market opportunities to help local producers take the next step in their business journeys,” he said.
For more information about upcoming workshops and to register your interest online, visit: fial.com.au and events.csiro.au
| Six key business challenges identified by workshop participants |
|---|
| 1. Growing customers and markets - attracting and satisfying new customers while retaining and growing existing ones. Finding and acting on opportunities in new target markets |
| 2. Staying competitive - creating and maintaining a competitive edge, competing against cheap imports and other new competitors |
| 3. Information technology and social media - understanding, selecting and implementing best IT solutions and social media marketing for the business |
| 4. Understanding and protecting intellectual property |
| 5. Finance/loans and dealing with banks |
| 6. Navigating complex regulations on food and product labelling |
Breakfast series inspires export greatness
Inspiring export greatness is the theme of a new breakfast event series aimed at sharing successful domestic and international business stories with emerging Western Australian exporters.
About 50 food and beverage industry stakeholders attended the inaugural breakfast on 2 October at Bluewater Grill in Applecross, featuring keynote speaker and Hancock Agriculture chief executive officer David Larkin AM.
Mr Larkin is known in the industry as a ‘meatrepreneur’ and was founder and owner of renowned global brand Atron for 10 years, before leading the brand through a successful acquisition.
He is an innovative and strategic leader in the Australian Beef Industry and has been involved in Australian Export and Foreign Trade Policy formulation.
The breakfast events are being delivered by the department’s Asian Market Success and Food Industry Innovation projects, in partnership with the Export Council of Australia (ECA).
They aim to deepen agribusiness stakeholders’ understanding of the realities of export-led business growth while supporting them to improve their export performance.
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Upcoming breakfast event:
Panel discussion with WA industry and export award achievers
(incl. Agrifresh, Churchview Estate and Fewster's Farm Honey)
Thursday, 30 November 2017
7.15am (for a 7.30am start) - 9.30am finish
Bluewater Grill, 58 Duncraig Road Applecross WA
Western Australian agrifood export businesses are encouraged to attend, however numbers are limited. For more information and to register, please visit the ECA website.