Food & Drink Business LIVE 2022: The program

Food & Drink Business LIVE is just a week (and one day) away. If you are based in Melbourne or feel like a drive/flight to Melbourne, we would love to see you in the room.

Georgie Aley from KPMG Australia will provide a macro-economic FMCG pricture; Julia Seddon from Cress Consulting will explain decarbonisation; Jim Fader from Eden Brew is going to share how to embed an entrepreneurial, innovative mindset in your organisation; and Kristy Carr from Bubs Australia will share her insights on running a company successfully through many hurdles and much regulation.

AND the panellists! Kate Weiss and Tal Weiss from Table of Plenty & Openway Food Co., Mark Ostryn from Strategic Transactions, and Gabrielle Munzer from Main Sequence are going to discuss the realities of being in business when it is not as usual. 

The program

7:30AM Registration

8:00AM Plated breakfast served

8:15AM Welcome

FIRESIDE CHAT: Bubs Australia founder and CEO Kristy Carr

In the last two years, Bubs Australia had weathered changes to China’s rules for imported infant formula, Covid and the collapse of the daigou market, to achieving record revenue, its first profit and expanded markets domestically and overseas. Founder and CEO Kristy Carr will sit down Food & Drink Business editor Kim Berry to discuss how a company in the most regulated food and beverage sector navigates multiple disruptions, including when the US President comes calling.  

PRESENTATION: Eden Brew CEO Jim Fader

The world of food production is changing, and there is a burning platform for companies to leverage modern manufacturing and scale quickly. At the coal face of a new sector and with a career built in fostering innovative and entrepreneurial workplaces, Jim will discuss how to create the right team from the beginning to create a successful company that can grow quickly.

PRESENTATION: Cress Consulting CEO and director Julia Seddon

Sustainability and environmental initiatives have been on the business world’s agenda for decades, but what was once a nice to have, is now business critical. With extensive experience guiding companies on climate and carbon risk, Julia will explain how companies currently overwhelmed by “everything changing all at once” can be curious instead of scared, reduce business risk, improve operational performance, and built climate resilience in a rapidly decarbonising world. 

PRESENTATION: KPMG national sector lead – Consumer Packaged Goods & Agribusiness, Georgie Aley

Changing consumer expectations coupled with technological and scientific advancements in food production have been amplified by a global events, instability, and disruption. Georgie will discuss the impact of these macro forces, and the choices – and opportunities – they have created for the food and beverage sector.

PANEL:

Georgie Aley will be joined by Table of Plenty founders Kate and Tal WeissStrategic Transactions founder and CEO Mark Ostryn, and Main Sequence partner Gabrielle Munzer for an encompassing discussion on the realities of running, selling, and scaling a business in a time of immense change.

Founders of Table of Plenty Kate and Tal Weiss will provide insights on running a health and wellness brand and being acquired by Openway Food Co. in 2021.

Mark Ostryn, founder and CEO of Strategic Transactions will share his experiences working with food and beverage company transactions on what buyers are looking for and sellers are wanting.

Main Sequence partner Gabrielle Munzer joins the panel to let us in on what private equity or venture capitalists are looking to invest in, in the food and beverage sector.

Whether your company is new and emerging or a heritage brand, the stellar line-up is going to inform, enlighten, and entertain. 

Book your tickets now

Packaging News

Detpak has been recognised by global restaurant chain operator, Flynn Group, with a Product Excellence award for innovation and design for Pizza Hut and Wendy’s promotion and packaging projects.

A $1-million soft plastics recycling pilot trial will soon be underway in Queensland, with the aim to test different ways for consumers to return and process problematic soft plastics.

In a webinar for Australian packaging industry stakeholders, DCCEEW outlined a three-option framework for proposed reforms to the packaging system, ahead of publishing a consultation paper for industry feedback by 28 October. PKN reviews the key ideas presented, and some of industry’s concerns raised during the session.