Prawns, Pineapples Plus! Food and Agribusiness on the Sunshine Coast with Nicole McNaughton

Full Transcript

Note: the following transcript was generated by AI and therefore may contain some errors and omissions.

The majority of the food and beverage industry in 98% of it’s made up by small and small to medium businesses. And we know that on the coast, the majority of the businesses are small enterprises. understanding how to actually price your product appropriately so that you’re actually making money back. And then as you scale and as you’re actually scaling up those processes, how to price it.

efficiently, understanding how to market it, so who your consumer is, getting that product in front of those consumers, especially in such a crowded marketplace. Before we get started, the team here at the Coast and Commerce podcast want to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land where this podcast is created, the Kabi Kabi and Jinibara people. We honour their rich culture of storytelling as we share the inspiring stories of business leaders across the Sunshine Coast. We pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging. Let’s get on with the show.

Welcome to the Coast and Commerce podcast, I’m Ben Amos from Innovate Media and this is the show where we bring inspiring stories from businesses across the Sunshine Coast to you to help you in whatever you do in business on the coast. And we’re kind of today in today’s episode is going to be a collection of inspiring stories, but because we’ve got here Nicole McNaughton from CEO from the Food and Agribusiness Network. And really I wanted to bring you on the show today, Nicole, to represent

all of the amazing stuff that’s happening in businesses in the food and agribusiness sector across the coast. So welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Really fantastic to be here. Awesome. So can you tell me a little bit about, you know, for you, your backstory, were you from a food business yourself or what brought you into this role and what you do in FAN or Food and Agribusiness Network today? Great question. Look, I actually had an epiphany recently that

I’m actually a COW farmer, COW standing for Coalition Of the Willing. It’s a bit of an acronym because you know, who doesn’t love a TLA. But what we do at FAN is really bring together our community and our network and be a conduit of connection and bring together the coalition of the willing. So that’s, I think, very much my why and certainly what I’m passionate about and what I’ve done over the course of my career.

In terms of working with food businesses, yeah, over the past 20 years, I’ve worked with some very big beer companies and consulting-wise worked in the FMCG sector. This has been just, I guess, the culmination of years of wanting to connect and bring together community, but also in the food industry. Yeah. And have you been on the coast for…

Most of your career? I’ve been on the coast now for 11 years. So we moved up to the coast in 2012 when I was pregnant with my second son, you know, coming up for the tree change, having a bit of space. My husband grew up here on the coast. So it was a natural transition to move up here, be closer to his family and live the lifestyle with two boys. Excellent. So tell me about the Food and Agribusiness Network. What is that? So FAN, so we…

have 420 members across Southeast Queensland. We work with members across the whole food value chain. So from artisan chocolate makers, brewers, distillers, cheese producers, crackers, chocolate. This is just a very, very, very small selection of some of our members. absolutely. And we’re a conduit for connection. So we connect our members with opportunities, resources, information each other in partnership with key local government authorities, with state government, with key stakeholders and we create opportunities for them to connect and to collaborate and grow. Nice, cool. And FAN’s been established for a while now, I think. Yeah, next year is actually our 10th anniversary. So we have been around for 10 years and kind of evolving as we go over the past 10 years.

Back in season one of the podcast, we had Tim Kelly from the Manufacturing Excellence Forum, which kind of he referred to the Food and Agribusiness Network as kind of what they’re trying to do in the manufacturing space. when we were getting ready for this interview, you referred to MEF or the Manufacturing Excellence Forum as… Well, it’s actually from him. So Tim is fantastic and we absolutely love what he does. yet he certainly…

MEF has modelled themselves after FAN. So we kind of define ourselves or identify as a cluster. So a cluster is where you have industry, which we are. We work very closely with government, as I said, all three levels of government and R&D. So that’s the kind of definition as such. And they’ve kind of grown up and have modelled themselves after us, which is a huge compliment. He likes to think of…

He lovingly calls himself as FAN’s little brother, which makes us the cool big sister. So the cool big sister. So, but it’s a huge compliment. And I think it’s probably testament to how we actually work on the coast. It’s incredibly collaborative ecosystem of groups like ours, who work in partnership with key stakeholders like the Sunshine Coast Council and Noosa Council and Moreton Bay Council. And

together we kind of make sure that our industry are across everything that’s out there. So you mentioned the Food and Agribusiness Network is having, I think you said 420 businesses currently. quite a variety of food businesses on the coast. I think for other people who aren’t in the food or agribusiness sector on the Sunshine Coast, sometimes you’re not aware of what’s here. Like we drive down the road and we see some farms, right? And we think, yeah, they’re growing some stuff over there.

We see farms, right? But it’s much more than farmers. Can you tell me, like, I mean, you’ve got some of them here, you’ve got some beverages, you’ve got some like sourdough crackers, which are amazing, by the way, chocolate, of course, you’ve got things that do grow on farms, right? But can you tell me just a bit of a sense of what are some of the things that are happening across the sector on the coast that maybe people like me aren’t aware of? Look, the food and beverage industry on the Greater Sunshine Coast is incredible.

Incredibly diverse. Recently, the value of the industry on the Sunshine Coast alone hit a billion dollars. So we have a study commissioned by the University of the Sunshine Coast, which Sunshine Coast Council arranges, and that’s been tracking the value of the industry now for about 10 years. 10 years ago, it was estimated to be at about 400 million, and last year it hit a billion dollars.

700 million of that, sorry, is actually value-add products. So that’s manufactured products. So the chocolates, the gin, the distilleries, the brewing, kind of product. So most people think of the Sunshine Coast as being prawns and pineapple, but it’s actually prawns and pineapple plus the value-add, plus the chocolate, plus the cheese, plus the innovative 

free from vegan products plus Country Chef plus Kilcoy, it’s incredibly diverse. We make and produce just about everything here except for wine. So I like to jokingly say that I’ve got Queensland’s best stock pantry, but it’s actually really true because we do make and produce a lot of incredibly diverse product. Yeah. So tell me for those listening or…

you know, maybe for those not listening as well, who those listening can tell these people to go out there and support these local producers and these value add products as you described. How do we do that though? Like, because you walk into, I don’t know, Coles or Woolies or Aldi, you don’t really see the, I mean, sometimes you do, some of those brands are in those major stockists, but you know, we have got the local, the IGA’s and things like that. What’s the best way for to actually support these food businesses? Yeah, great question.

Look, certainly the IGA’s do a phenomenal job in supporting local and led by the amazing Ros White, who is just such a passionate locavore and we’re massive fans of what she does. I think she stocks over 200 local products and you can actually see the listings of all of the local products in any of her stores. Certainly coming across and getting across work.

like we do, we’ve actually got two websites, Sunshine Coast Regional Food Directory, which lists a lot of products and where you can get it. We’ve just actually recently, well recently in the past year, worked with our friends at Visit Sunshine Coast on a destination brand campaign called Queensland Sunshine Pantry, which we’ve got funding for from the state government to actually roll out a regional destination campaign. And in that, we’re actually starting to profile some more of our members who also are offering a tourism bent as well.

But once you start looking, you’ll find that there’s actually a lot out there. it’s, yeah, as I said, coming to websites like ours, going to the local IGA stores, going to the local farmers markets as well. I mean, we are so well served on the coast with so many amazing local farmers markets. And just, yeah, just talking to the makers and the producers and…

in hearing their stories and getting a sense of their passion for what they do. That’s really important. Yeah, I love that. So a bit of inspiration for everyone listening or watching to just go maybe a little bit out of your way, but often not far, right? Because you can walk around the corner and there’s probably another local food agribusiness kind of producer or business right there, right? So everywhere across the coast. absolutely. And when you’re going to local restaurants, of inquiring, you know, where is this local

produce being, know, where do you get this, where are you sourcing this from? So it’s asking the questions and kind of looking beyond. I think a stat that is really not that well known outside our industry is that the majority of the food and beverage industry in Australia, 98 % of it’s made up by small and small to medium businesses. And we know that on the coast, the majority of the businesses are small enterprises. and that’s…

that’s consistent with the food and beverage industry in Australia as a whole. So what we talk about internally a lot is the challenges that are faced by industry, the cost of living, the cost of doing business, the cost of freight, the cost of transport, you know, it continues to be the challenges faced by a small business. But we’ve reframed that narrative recently and started talking about, yeah, it’s tough. It’s incredibly tough for business to

to come up for air and thrive, but what we need to do is actually showcase and celebrate those businesses who are doing really well and who are showing resilience and showing passion for what they do. And I think it’s a role for organisations like ours to actually shine a light on and celebrate those businesses who are doing great things and encourage people to go out and support local as much as possible. You mentioned some of the challenges faced by the industry there. Yeah. Which is true across many industries.

across everyone today, right? But what are some of the things that you’re seeing those successful food and agribusinesses doing to overcome some of those challenges? Certainly having a really sound business model. And we saw that during COVID as well. Those businesses who had a sound business model, who had all of their financials sorted, who had a really good understanding of their market and their customers were able to pivot really quickly when times got tough.

I think that’s the same today. Knowing your customer, knowing your product well, knowing your channels, but also then being able to really kind of adapt quickly. We’re finding businesses who are kind of taking on board customer feedback and being able to kind of switch things up quickly are doing well. And again, businesses who have got really sound business fundamentals and are kind of looking to understand how to

better have those fundamentals sorted are doing well. Are there any specific challenges that you hear when you’re speaking to your network that are because they’re based on the Sunshine Coast? Yeah, not specifically on the Sunshine Coast. Look, I think for the food and beverage industry in general, it’s the blanket access to market, access to distribution, probably for smaller businesses kind of being able to have that.

kind of access to a greater purchasing pool, for instance, because they’re smaller, they don’t have the benefits of bigger purchasing power, for instance. So that’s a lot of some of the work that we’re trying to do in the background is mapping what could be better ways of distributing, having kind of access to greater purchasing power, for instance. I think businesses here on the coast, we’re really lucky to have such a

collaborative ecosystem and that’s probably something that comes up a lot but there is a lot of support and a lot of initiatives available to businesses as a whole on the coast to access and but I think that comes with a challenge because being able to understand what’s out there and navigate what’s out there when your time and resource for business can be somewhat overwhelming so I think that’s where groups like ours and MEFs and CleanTech

come into play because we can be that conduit for these businesses to show them what’s available. Yeah, so for those businesses, whether they’re a food agribusiness or not, like what would you say is the importance of finding that a network? Sso obviously if they’re a food and agribusiness business, then your network, Yeah. But what’s the importance of that collaboration and not operating in a silo, believe? Honestly, I hear this at pretty much every event that…

we run or put on is businesses coming along, especially for the first time, kind of getting the sense and meeting others who are at that stage of that same stage of journey going, I’m not alone in this. So what we find is a lot of businesses coming to the food industry have come from other industries. So nurses who are switching careers or teachers who are starting up, they have come with a passion for a product that they make really well. And they’re then having to navigate how to actually develop that product into a business and scale that business up. So that in itself can be quite overwhelming and can be quite a journey. So for them to then come along and understand that they’re not alone is quite powerful and we do hear that quite a lot. So that importance of finding your tribe, finding your community and then being able to kind of share.

Pain points and share insights on how to navigate that journey is really quite powerful. Yeah, awesome. So let’s speak to that potential person listening or watching who has an idea or is trying to get something off the ground in a food business. And probably they are coming to this, like you said, something completely different. What are some of those early stage challenges that you see? Obviously, get that network around you. We’ve discussed that. But what are some of those early stage challenges to…

getting a product to market or getting something off the ground? Yeah, it’s certainly navigating all of the regulations that are out there in the food context especially, understanding how to actually get your product into market and what those channels can be. Things like understanding what you need to put on your packaging because there’s some regulatory requirements around that. Understanding how to actually price your product.

appropriately so you’re actually making money back and then as you scale and as you’re actually scaling up those processes how to price it efficiently understanding how to market it so who your consumer is and getting that product in front of those consumers especially in such a crowded marketplace so it’s certainly the layer of the regulations is

Obviously it’s food, so there’s additional layers. But then actually accessing the market is the next layer up as well. Yeah, so that’s how FAN helps with that. Like you have resources or you people connect with the right resources to help them get over those early barriers. Yeah, so this year we actually rolled out our GROW National program which is an evolution of the Grow Coastal program we ran in 2017 to 2019. So that’s a program for specifically food and beverage businesses looking to access new markets. So I think it was last week actually we ran our last one day boot camp for the year. We’ll roll that out again next year with some new guest speakers and panellists and that’s really there to actually help these businesses here on the coast understand what next in terms of scaling up their business. 

So aside from that, we have resources, a lot of online resources that are available to our members in our fan mail, which we send out every month. There’s always a huge list of grants and opportunities and workshops that are coming up that we collate over the course of a month. And then it’s just connection. So in the Sunshine Coast, Noosa and Moreton Bay, we actually have a dedicated member coordinator who works with our members and kind of connects them with information, resources, opportunity, I guess, really dependent on what that particular member needs. So yeah, there’s quite a lot on offer, but it’s just being able to reach out and being able to engage with what we have, yeah. Awesome, let’s speak now to those businesses that are a little bit more established in the food space, and maybe they’re looking to go to their next level, right? 

Whether it be national distribution or exporting as well, right, for some products. So what are some of the challenges or ways that FAN supports those businesses to go to that next Go to that next level. What we’re really excited next year will be having our sixth anniversary of Meet the Makers. So Meet the Makers is our trade show, our B2B trade show that we have been running for the past few years.

We’re looking to invite national and international buyers along to that particular event. The last couple of years that we’ve held it, we’ve had 100 plus members exhibit with 300 plus buyers and the businesses who come along to that have had some phenomenal results, which is just fantastic for us to be able to hear. So that particular event will be running in July as part of the curator plate as well, which is fantastic.

fantastic initiative from Sunshine Coast Council. And alongside that, we always run a lot of capability building programs. So you talk about export. So this year we ran an export workshop as part of Grow National. We’ll be looking to do something similar again next year. We work really closely with our friends from Trade and Investment Queensland who are really dedicated, who are looking at the export market and support businesses. So…

We kind of work with them on initiatives like Taste of Queensland, which they held this year. And again, be that conduit in making sure that members who are looking at opportunities like export are really connected into the key stakeholders and knowing which channels that they can actually access for information and support and resource. Okay, awesome. I think anyone on the Sunshine Coast should be really proud that as a region, we really punch above our weight in this space, don’t we? Like there’s so much amazing stuff happening.

So much great produce, you know, grown and developed here as well. What would you say is, if you were to kind of say what’s behind that, like, why do you think this region, I mean, is it our climate? Is it our, I don’t know, is it our land or is it just the people? Like, why are we doing so well in this space? Great question. And we, I think we genuinely do. 

It’s kind of a lot of the work that we do behind the scenes, which is not really visible to members, is actually contributing to national conversations around what groups or ecosystems like ours do. we sit in on Queensland. So FAN is actually the Queensland lead for the Australian Food Innovation Network, which is a network of leading research and development institutions with representatives from each state that CSIRO pulled together. So I sit in on that particular network every month and we kind of share insights and challenges around what the national ecosystem looks like, which is a huge honor and it’s a great learning opportunity for us. But importantly, we can be that voice for what small industry is really facing. 

And I think why, again collaborative ecosystem we could play buzzword bingo sometimes. But I think it genuinely is because we all genuinely have a passion for connecting and putting forward those connections and those opportunities for our industry. even amongst the groups like, as you say, MEF and CleanTech will apply for collaborative grants between us to actually develop programs of activities for our members or if we’ve got an interesting connection, we’ll reach out to each other and say, hey, this looks interesting. You guys should connect or you should come along to this particular event or what about this? So we’re kind of hunting in a pack, if you will. So and that kind of sends a really strong message to key stakeholders that as a region we’re working together with the view of really improving industry and regional economic development. 

I love it. Cool. Yeah. Whether this be, you know, a question for you personally, Nicole, or, you know, representing the network, fan network. Fan network, that’s like two networks, It’s like ATM machine. So the question is, you know, what’s the vision here? Whether it’s your personal vision for the food sector on the Sunshine Coast over the next three or five years, or whether it’s a collective fan vision, like where do you think this industry is going? Look, our fan vision is a growing and empowered, resilient network. And I think tangibly or what that realistically means, I was asked this the other day and a really great example is we had a new member join us recently who participated in our Grow National one day boot camp and she’s new to the industry. She’s got a particular product that she’s had to develop for own personal reasons and she is that typical business have come from another industry into the food industry and she’s not quite sure where to go and what to access. My vision is for her to be able to come to a network like ours, access the support and the information and the connections and to navigate that pathway more efficiently and then come out with a really fantastic product that is selling well and she feels supported and she feels that by joining this network she’s been able to access and do it in a much more productive and efficient way than if she had have done it by herself. 

Being able to support those guys as they grow with the right information and connections is, yeah, certainly a personal vision and I guess what we do. Yeah, love it. So for those people out there, you know, who maybe need to know about you guys and join your network, who’s kind of right to join FANT? Yeah, look, we have three tiers of membership. So we have a community membership, which is a free membership for those who just want to have a little taster, all puns intended.

And so anyone in the food value chain. as I said, producers, makers, growers, restaurant owners, retailers, even service providers who are looking to tap into the network. So the community membership is free for industry members. Then we have a second tier, which is the Connect membership where members pay an annual fee and they get a bit more access to our member coordinators, discounted tickets to events, opportunities, that kind of thing. And then we have a commercial membership, which is for our affiliates or service providers who, know, marketing agencies or agencies who want to actually provide a service to the network. multiple, those three tiers. 

But then we also run lots of member meetups and events and activities and next year we’ll be ramping that up with our 10th year celebrations as well. Excellent. So lots of ways that people can join, connect, be part of that collaborative network if they’re in that industry. And where’s the best place to go? What’s the website? So it’s foodagribusiness.org.au Awesome. So if you’re watching or listening and that’s you, go over there and check that out. 

And if that’s not you, if you’re not in the Food and Agribusiness Network this is what you need to do is to go out and buy some of this stuff from your local IGA or from the farmers markets or directly from the producer themselves if they have that kind of shop front. So go out there and support the food businesses and see what you can find. There’s a lot of great stuff out there. much amazing product and produce all made by incredibly passionate and resilient businesses who…

genuinely have a love for what they do. and that’s the biggest spotlight that we can shine on our industry is that, yeah, it might be tough to run a food or beverage business at the moment, but hey, our members and our producers and our makers are so incredibly passionate and so incredibly resilient and have such amazing product that we all need to enjoy and celebrate.

And the best way to support those businesses is to buy their stuff. Buy local, buy local, shop local, eat local. Yeah, absolutely. You can’t go wrong. Can’t go wrong. And especially when we have such amazing product and cheese on the coast. Well, speaking of cheese, I know that how much you love cheese. So we’re going to say thank you very much for joining us on the Coast and Commerce podcast. And we’re going to come and eat some of this cheese now before Liam gets into it. Who’s standing behind the camera there. But thanks for joining me on this episode. 

This has been The Coast and Commerce podcast. And if you want to watch another episode, just hit that subscribe button on YouTube or follow along on your podcast player so that you don’t miss another episode of the Coast and Commerce podcast. Thanks for joining us, Thanks for having me. See you next time.