Ward McKenzie has all the key ingredients that go into creating an Aussie icon. It started out in 1852 as a Melbourne grain store, and for the past 160 years, the family business – now in its fifth generation – has supplied a broad range of simple yet important staples like legumes, baking aids, herbs and spices to local consumers under the McKenzie’s brand.
The company also has a stronghold in the supermarkets for many of its products, and Ward McKenzie points to its quality products, strong relationships with growers, and its honest values as the key to securing a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
So what’s the problem? According to the company’s marketing manager, Melissa Clayton, while most Australians would have a McKenzie’s branded product in their cupboard, many don’t even realise that they do, and they also don’t realise that the brand is Australian.
As a result, the company has embarked on a communication program to boost its profile.
“We want Australians to become reacquainted with the brand,” Clayton says.
Though few people know it, Ward McKenzie has worked closely with farmers in the Victorian Wimmera and Mallee districts, and the Riverina and South West Slopes in NSW for decades.
“In the seasons when crops aren’t great, we work with the growers to assist them for the next season,” Clayton says. “We’re very loyal to farmers and they are same with us.”
She says McKenzie’s only uses imported legumes during poor seasons or when they are not grown in commercial quantities.
And when it can’t source its products in Australia, it makes sure it packs them in Australia to ensure the product meets quality standards and to support local jobs.
Ward McKenzie is based in Altona in Melbourne. In addition to the McKenzie’s retail range of products, the company also has a growing food service division and a trading division called FTA Food Solutions that imports and distributes agricultural commodities.
The company now employs over 100 people, and many Ward McKenzie staff have been there for decades.
Product mix
The company makes three main categories of cooking staples: its legume and grain range, which includes soup mix and red lentils; a baking aid range, which includes cream of tartar, bicarb and desiccated coconut; and its spice range.
According to Clayton, McKenzie’s lentils and soup mixes are the only branded product in the soup aisle at major supermarkets, and this side of the business is flourishing. Sales of its red lentils, for instance, have on average grown seven per cent annually in the last four years.
Most of this growth can be attributed to the slow cooking movement, increasing consumer interest in cooking at home in general, and the trend towards cooking international cuisine in which red lentils are used, according to Clayton.
“Consumers are getting back to basics and doing more cooking at home. They are looking for recipes, and open to trying new things.”
Down the line
Clayton says in the future the company will work with local Australian farmers to innovate in the legumes category.
McKenzie’s has already collaborated with some growers to produce a novel lentil variety, which resulted in a new addition to its range: McKenzie’s French Style Lentils, which were previously imported.
Clayton, who is a qualified nutritionist, says the company will also continue to promote the health and nutrition properties of its legumes. She says they are rich sources of carbohydrates, protein and dietary fibre, yet Australia has one of the lowest per capita pulse consumption rates in the world.
To meet the lightest dietary guidelines, Australians should eat legumes two to three times per week, yet only 22 per cent of Australians eat legumes once a week, according to the figures.
“We currently work with the Grains & Legume Nutrition Council to help educate Australians to the benefits of legumes,” Clayton says.
“We anticipate that the growing reputation of legumes as a very affordable and highly nutritious protein will drive further consumer interest in the category.”
