Salad sensation

With two of Australia’s leading salad brands in its portfolio, fresh-cut food pioneer Salad Fresh is looking to a bright future, as Australians opt for healthier and more convenient food options.

As a leading manufacturer of prepared salads, Salad Fresh Pty Ltd has been playing a significant role in the development of Australia’s fresh-cut food sector.

In ‘Salad Fresh’ and ‘Mrs Crocket’s’ the firm has two iconic fresh-cut and deli salads industry brands, and is supplying its own branded products and private label brands to the country’s largest supermarket chains.

The company, which has an annual turnover of more than A$100 million, offers its customers pre-washed, assembled and dressed salads in a variety of flavours, and has within its product portfolio vegetable mixes, microwaveable vegetables, ready-to-roast vegetables and a variety of ready-to-heat-and-eat soups and ready-to-go meals.

As one of the Australian food industry’s top innovators, Salad Fresh has pioneered concepts such as ‘lettuce in a bag’ and has played a significant role in bringing the ‘one-stop-shop’ factor to mainstream retail stores by introducing sachets of dressing, dry ingredients and protein into its products.

To maintain the supply of fresh and ready-to-go products across all Australian states, the company has built up a workforce of more than 500 staff that operate from HACCP-accredited, state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities across the country.

“Paramount to our success is the close working relationship we have with Australian growers and other suppliers,” notes chief executive officer Peter Kemp.

“We buy from Australian farmers to ensure quality and freshness,” he adds.

“We also maintain the highest possible quality standards through the implementation of the strictest temperature controls throughout the entire supply chain process.”

Born in the 1980s

The origins of Salad Fresh can be traced back to the 1980s at Convenience Foods Pty Ltd — a company that began its operations at a time when the international trend for fresh-cut foodstuff was starting to take off.

With fresh produce being delivered directly to its factory from growers, Convenience Foods began to supply pre-washed, cut and assembled salads, as well as a range of vegetable mixes. It was then sorted, chopped if necessary, washed and packaged, and delivered to retailers across Australia.

“In 1994 we acquired our first major stakeholder, Woolworths, and it wasn’t long before we began developments into convenient-styled products such as salad kits,” says Kemp.

“Since then consumer demands has helped the sector develop and led to the launch of other products, such as vegetable trays and salad bowls.

“Coles, our other major stakeholder, also came on board in the 1990s and again we made significant developments in time-poor and culinary-styled products that met the changing demand in consumer needs.”

In July 2009, the company acquired the well-established Mrs Crocket’s brand, and the restructuring of the business was complete when Convenience Foods and Mrs Crocket’s Kitchen combined to form Salad Fresh.

“Together, now under the company name Salad Fresh Pty Ltd, we are now the largest fresh-cut and ready meal salad solutions provider for Australia nationally,” says Kemp.

“Since our augmentation we have set out to improve our facilities, including our machine capabilities, as well expanding our supplier base framework; we are also now in the final stages of streamlining all our efficiencies.

“It’s been an extremely busy two-and-a-half years, but we remain committed to becoming the country’s leading fresh-cut and prepared meal supplier, and with that comes an extreme focus on quality, market conditions and above all servicing our customers,” he adds.

Fresh exports

Kemp says that the biggest change experienced in terms of demand by Salad Fresh in recent years has been the overall increase in demand for more convenient meal base solutions.

“With 25 years’ worth of experience under our belts we have now reached a point where we have systems in place to adjust to these changes and we can adapt quite instinctively,” he says.

Kemp adds that across the food industry as a whole there has been a significant shift in consumer spending behaviour, which has been enforced by the economic turmoil experienced across all Australian markets.

“While we have not been affected as significantly as other industries, such as retail, we are aware that consumers are saving more and spending less on their shopping and commodity bills,” he notes. “This change has presented some opportunities to review potential new products to meet with current market conditions.

“It is an interesting time and we are hearing loud and clear what consumers are after, and therefore we are enjoying the challenge of meeting these conditions and don’t foresee this shift making a change anytime soon.

“But healthy meal options have always been a fascination for the Australian consumer and convenient salad products create a unique healthy option when compared to the broader market,” he adds.

By offering its customers a range of convenient products, Salad Fresh has found itself in a stable market position, but is continuing to source new opportunities with exporting becoming a more frequently discussed topic by the company’s executives, according to Kemp.

“I believe the export channel is something we will be executing in the next five years, once we have the logistics, manpower and operations in place to provide successful transactions between corresponding countries,” he remarks.

At present Salad Fresh is focusing on meeting its domestic targets and goals, but as it begins to firmly establish itself within the higher echelons of its sector, the company will no doubt start to grab the attention of international companies as it looks to grow into a regional food industry powerhouse.

www.saladfresh.com.au