Flavorite Hydroponic Tomatoes -

13 September 2004

Spring 2004 Report  

Spring 2004

As the winter gloom clears away it is obvious that Flavorite has made gains in production and service over the past year.

The Queensland facility (3.3ha growing area) is now producing at budgeted target levels and sending 40 tonnes a week of very high quality, great tasting, tomatoes into the market place.

In Queensland, revamping the older greenhouse and the introduction of a huge, highly specialised new structure has really added some strength to this production centre.

Add a new management team, a specialised grower with International experience and you have a really classy product – the best tomatoes ever to come out of Bundaberg.

It is proposed for this facility to grow quickly in size not only to supply the Australian market, but also to produce high quality fruit for the New Zealand Market through Summer, Spring and Autumn. The emphasis will always remain on Flavour, Taste and Quality, even if we do sacrifice a little yield.

Flavorite has been busy responding to, and leading our competition in all areas.

Our purpose built Distribution Centre at Tottenham now boasts 1500 sq metres of controlled atmosphere picking and packing area, which also includes the pre packing business. Installation of a similar area is about to begin at Warragul so that all fruit is packed and stored in an ideal environment before delivery to our major customers and markets – this will further guarantee the famous taste, shelf life and firm red texture of Flavorite tomatoes.

Flavorite has begun packing tomatoes in Sydney. This has not been an easy project and will continue to face minor obstacles. One problem we always face (a common problem everywhere) is that when we lift a grower’s quality to the Flavorite quality standard, suddenly, he finds himself and his fruit in demand and loyalties can waiver. The end result is inevitable – fruit quality and presentation will improve and continue to improve – it will never go back – all RETAILERS and the industry will benefit from this. Flavorite has done this – it is a slow process – it is over three years now since Warren and Mark have been travelling to Sydney and talking to growers and now it is happening – Previously it was too hard and habits were too ingrained. Now new entrants to the industry and more innovative growers are grouping under the Flavorite banner to continue the Flavorite quality tradition – right in Sydney – same day delivery – fruit grown to the highest Australian standards with the same exacting management and nutritional programs that are employed at Warragul.

Flavorite will have a big impact in Sydney. We grow better coloured tomatoes, they taste better; our nutritional programs guarantee this. This year our biggest impact will be in standardisation of product and packaging, increased reliability and consistency of high quality tomatoes. In NSW we expect that as the season develops our grower group will expand further to include 4ha of tomato production, picking 15,000 trays a week, and adding substantial diversity to the supply from Melbourne and Adelaide through the summer months.

Flavorite’s real strength will become even more obvious next year when the planting program, with special red coloured varieties, will deliver many more tomatoes for Spring (instead of a glut of poor quality fruit in December) so that marketing programs can be confidently orchestrated and supported by high quality fruit. Flavorite’s planning and marketing will only encourage growers and retailers alike. We know consumers will rejuvenate the tomato market once they can buy this fruit consistently.

In South Australia, the number of growers under the Flavorite banner continues to grow.

As in Sydney, this is a slow process of visiting growing areas, conducting grower’s seminars and finding people who are prepared to change.

We will have a very strong unit in Virginia with a dedicated packing shed before 2004 is over. One restraining factor in South Australia has been the reluctance of the retailers to fully embrace hydroponic tomatoes as they have maintained shelf space for cheaper fruit. Once again growers who we convert to hydroponics soon find their fruit is in demand.

Flavorite has advised all their growers that there are rigid guidelines for picking, which must be adhered to and that a cool room is now a must in terms of their total greenhouse investment. Greenhouse growers must put value into their tomatoes – shelf life is critical – to demand good prices for the product they must deliver value.

Flavorite has advertised substantially through 2003 – 2004 and will continue to do so this year. We are the only company that advertises the product – our name says it all – but someone has to keep hydroponic tomatoes in front of the consumer and back it up with a great product. If it were left to New Zealand tomatoes, which will sell, on appearance, once more we would lose the market as people find them bland and tasteless and become confused about what they are buying. The Flavorite brand represents hydroponic tomatoes and has played a major role in developing consumer loyalty for the product and continues to do so. Our website has 60 hits a day and many more for general business information.

There is a constant stream of e-mails telling us how terrific the tomatoes are and how good they taste.

Our prepack business has been a real success story with sales of ordinary truss and cherry truss going through the roof. We will build a specialised growing group for these lines.

Flavorite has seen many challenges in 2004 and expects many more in 2005. Other groups have expanded their growing area’s this year, some are nearly in production – Flavorite did increase their production area and have the tomatoes – we have signed the contract already to increase our glasshouse area at Warragul by the same amount again. We don’t talk about building greenhouses – we do it – on time and on budget.

We are focusing on the production of more special tomatoes closer to all major outlets so that our customers have better services and get fresher tomatoes. We will continue to refine and develop our marketing and distribution systems to ensure this happens. Our greenhouse investment will be continual, well planned and is designed to meet the needs of our own business and those of our customers.

Greenhouse management is a particularly difficult job and Flavorite have undertaken to train a group of young Australian’s in this task to cope with the rapid increase of the growing area. These young people will be the backbone of a new industry in Australia and will reduce the constant necessity to bring overseas growers to Australia to maintain production levels. Many of these people prove unsuited to the Australian way of life and often become homesick and need to be replaced as they fail to adapt to the difficult growing conditions in this country.

It is obvious Flavorite has made a substantial investment in both infrastructure and personnel in 2004 – this is ongoing – all our day to day business backs the long term vision – to be the best and largest supplier of fresh tomatoes in Australia – it is happening now.

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