$30 million ready meal revolution for Beak & Johnston

Australia's largest fresh soups and ready meals maker, Beak & Johnston, is expanding its footprint in the burgeoning sector with a new $30 million facility capable of producing millions of restaurant quality meals.

The new plant will enable the company to make chilled short shelf-life meals featuring far fresher ingredients than most ready meal makers can currently make, according to the company's founder and managing director, David Beak.

“In the new factory we will be able to make products like green curries with very fresh looking vegetables. These should be absolutely restaurant quality,” he says.

David Beak, who will be sharing the secrets of his company's success at the Food & Drink Business LIVE: Industry of the Future Forum on the morning of 11 August, says the company is currently restricted to manufacturing long shelf life post-pack pasteurised meals at its existing facility in Greenacre.

The new plant will also dramatically boost the company's capacity, according to Beak. The facility, which will be located at Arndell Park in Sydney's west, will make a million fresh chilled meals a week.

Beak says his company has seen 20 per cent compound growth for the past ten years, and the new facility will enable it to maintain this momentum as well as meet rising demand for innovation in the space from its retail customers.

“We are finding we are getting very strong demand from all the retailers, including the discounters, the independents and both the two majors. They are all actively looking for innovation in this space,” Beak says.

Beak & Johnston is equipping an existing 6,500 square metre factory at the Arndell Park site. The company has also hired a team of six experts in the short shelf-life space from the UK to lead the project. Beak says this new team has a combined 140 years' experience in making these types of products.

The new strategy has also required a major overhaul of its IT systems, including the installation of a $5 million ERP system, and a major focus on tightening up its supply chain, according to Beak.

“To make certain we get these products to market literally overnight, we now need to work very closely with our supply chain partners, from our key suppliers to our retail customers,” he says.

The inaugural Food & Drink Business LIVE event kicks off on the morning of August 11 at Royal Randwick Racecourse, Sydney. You can book your seats here.