Insight Series. Championing Food & Beverage Trends to Increase Business Value. Tom Kime Mark Ostryn

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1 Insight Series Championing Food & Beverage Trends to Increase Business Value Tom Kime Mark Ostryn

2 2 Overview Sales of Australian food business have been growing both in value and volume for several years. For example, in 2017 there was over 70 recorded sale transactions. From the perspective of the seller the most valuable sales resulted from where the owner seller had pioneered extensive product innovation prior to sale. Value came from creating new niche products that fitted with the buyer s own growth plans. One of our most recent contributors to our Insight series on improving value in Food & Beverage business is Tom Kime. He has filmed 3 of his own TV series and 5 for Ready Steady Cook. Tom is also a prolific international food writer with 6 published books. Tom inspires food companies to create new food ranges. He then leads new product development to deliver vibrant contemporary global flavours. Toms believes, to be better personally and professionally, to grow, you've got to be brave, you've got to be innovative, you've got to get creative. Tom Kime Executive Chef & Food Consultant Major Food Trends

3 3 The Food industry like, many other industries faces a wave of disruption that threatens the relevance of all current food products. From the artisan Producers, to the corporate manufacturers, and from the rural suppliers to the extraordinary digital way that fresh food can be delivered to your door, can either be innovative and creative and thrive on this new wave or be swept away by these turbulent seas. Tom notes that Australia is becoming more culturally diverse and the consumers are looking for more diversity, authenticity and clean food products. His checklist for food businesses seeking to improve or differentiate their offering includes the following: Authenticity Tom believes that the size of the international sections in Australian supermarkets will increase significantly. There will cease to be any differentiation between what is Australian and what is not. Australians are very proud of the fact that they are good world travellers and their experience of world cuisines will be reflected in increased international products that are available. Furthermore, there will be more variety of products that are more likely to resemble the specific regions of that country. The increased variety will even more closely resemble the taste of food in the country of origin. The dry spiced meals from Northern Thailand are markedly different to the more coconut cream-oriented meals in the south of Thailand, while the massive diversity in Italian cuisine is testament to its relatively recent unification (1871!). Before the creation of Italy, it was a series of different principalities and kingdoms that had very different cuisines and grew very different products. Polenta and Rice come from the North of Italy so you expect to see risotto in Milan or Venice but never in Naples. You very rarely find an egg pasta such as tagliatelle or ravioli which comes from the centre of Italy in southern Italy for example. Then in Sicily they are closer to North Africa than Rome and they eat spicy fish cous cous with lots of chilli, deliciously amazing but not something that you would associate with the simple description of Italian cuisine.

4 4 Authenticity Tom s recent project with Ilumi illustrates this. Ilumi had been cooking up gluten- and milk-free foods for nearly a decade. Their nutritionist team were very allergensensitive but wanted to go to market with some very authentic Asian style soups. Tom produced a whole series of flavours including a Malaysian lamb, a Chinese chicken soup with mushrooms and black pepper and a middle eastern dish among others. Tom was able to dramatically improve the post-retorting flavour through the use of strong vegetable flavours, spices and authentic non-wheat flour thickeners. The products could be naturally gluten free by using lentil flour and chickpea flour (Besan flour) which also provided a delicious nutty element to the recipes. The increase in the robust flavours carried through to the finished product so the finished result was vibrant and zesty with bags of flavour. It does not have to cost more to make it taste good Other food pioneers that Tom has raised the authenticity stakes include the Asian sauces in vegan salad noodle bowls of Pineana in Sydney and the Norigami (sushi sandwiches) London

5 5 Introduce new free-from products Tom helps companies develop ranges of new products, International flavours and create zesty recipes which are then made into commercial manufactured products. Tom recently worked with Conscious Chocolate a raw cacao chocolate company helping them take their organic dairy free chocolate to a larger mass market and Heck Foods a healthy sausage manufacturer in Yorkshire in the UK. Aware of the fact that foods lose about 30% of their flavour while in the fridge, Tom s used firm Asian style vegetables and Japanese edamame beans and Authentic Asian and Middle Eastern spice pastes to ensure that the finished product was flavoursome and distinctive and very different from the other Vegan products on the market. Their biggest seller across the six leading supermarket brands was a chicken sausage that s high-protein and low-fat and gluten free. It was well positioned in their market, but Heck wanted to explore more creative flavours and make a dynamic stance with new product innovation. Tom introduced authentic, Thai, Indian and South East Asian flavours to the range of chicken products. Heck also saw the huge growth potential of the vegan market, which is pretty brave for a meat company that produces 14 tonnes of sausages a day. Tom recognised the growth of the freefrom customer (dairy free, meat free, gluten free, etc.) and pioneered a range of vegan sausages. Believing that we have teeth for a reason, he eliminated the use of soft vegetable purees and introduced stronger flavours and al dente textures.

6 6 Sustainability & Traceability In a recent survey conducted in the US around 50% of the fish sold was not the species, or the exact variety or not from the origin that was labelled. It is only very recently that fish sold in Australia has to show its country of origin, and from State to state the same fish may have numerous different names. One powerful way to differentiate a product is to have the supply chain of ingredients traceable and transparent. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is the gold standard when it comes to Sustainable traceability for seafood. Tom wrote his fifth book Called Fish Tales in association with the MSC and travelled to ten international fisheries to tell the story of how each one was being sustainable. The book won the World Gourmand Award for the Best Sustainable Book A restaurant that has subscribed to the MSC program can trace the fish that they're serving, this ensures authenticity of product and confidence that they can pass on to the customer. This is possible because the all the suppliers and the fishery are all linked in the Chain of custody. The fish served can be traced right back to the boat, and the name of the captain, and the quadrant of the ocean it was fished in. The Northern Prawn Fishery in Queensland and Sealord in New Zealand combine MSC s Sustainable seafood traceability with Tom s recipes and ideas for the seafood to sell products that are translatable around the world

7 7 Authenticity & Diversity of Flavour Two Meters Tall, are a farm beer manufacturer bottle fermenting their beer in the Derwent Valley in Tasmania. They enjoy the distinction of having a cult following, online or via the farm bar. Originally the owner, Ashley Huntington an awardwinning wine maker took samples of hops that hadn t been grown commercially for more than 100 years. He persuaded some Hop Growers in Tasmania to grow them for his use and by his specifications. He added to the story by growing his own organic barley, malting his own barley. He feeds malted barley mulch to a heard of organic angus cows as mulch. He then bottles ferments the beer (made like champagne) with the contents of each bottle slightly different. So, he is a grower, and brewer of these unique craft beers. Some of the beers are sweetened with local apple juice or other seasonal produce such as cherries. His brilliant beers have a unique flavour but despite this popularity, they are only produced when the local fruits are in season and are harvested. Summary Along with differentiating your food product, there exists the marketing challenge of telling the world how you re differentiated. Tom s checklist for undertaking this includes: obtaining certification that proves provenance and authenticity, gaining awards, which are then nationally and internationally recognised and appreciated, aligning with brand ambassadors who can promote and put a human element to the product and producing promotional materials that facilitate the sale of the product.

8 8 Contributors Tom Kime Executive Chef & Food Consultant +61 (0) Tom is an experienced executive chef with a global view of food and balancing flavours. He has a demonstrated history of working with companies to introduce innovative products and authentic flavours. A strong media & communication professional who has written 6 books and filmed 3 own TV series and 5 for Ready Steady Cook. Mark Ostryn CEO / Founder Strategic Transactions Mark Ostryn is the founder and CEO of Strategic Transactions. Mark s focus is to transact the sale or acquisition of a business at the optimal value and terms for the owner. This involves detailed market search, financial decision support and project management throughout the transaction. The Seven Key Assets for Business Success info@ strategictransactions.com.au