Cultivate Food and Beverage, a social enterprise backed by South Australian disability services provider Bedford, has acquired Adelaide Hills Food, with major growth plans for the well-known bakery and food manufacturer.
Cultivate Food and Beverage was established by Bedford in early 2023 to provide opportunities for people experiencing barriers to work
Founders of Adelaide Hills Foods Andrew and Susan Horwood and their family will remain an integral part of the business, which has a national distribution network of over 1500 retailers, including Coles, Woolworths, Foodland, and IGA.
Andrew Horward said he was excited about the future and next growth phase for the company, which has 300 product lines. Its brands include Emmaline’s, Positano, Emma + Myrtles Bakehouse, James Road, and Barossa Pizza.
“We are thrilled to work in partnership with Cultivate to build our production capacity to meet the ever-growing demand for Adelaide Hills Foods product range. Our Lobethal factory is near capacity and Cultivate provides the perfect business solution with access to their Brooklyn Park facility in the immediate term and an expanded workforce.
Bedford divisional GM, Hospitality Services, Travis Kerkman, said the acquisition and investment in Adelaide Hills Foods will create more inclusive employment opportunities for South Australians and will bring increased production capability and labour for Adelaide Hills Foods.
“The Adelaide Hills Foods and Cultivate partnership delivers the South Australian food manufacturing sector significant growth opportunities.
“At Cultivate, we have a scalable workforce and production facilities, enabling Adelaide Hills Foods to grow its national retail footprint and meet market demand,” Kerkman said.
Under the acquisition Cultivate’s workforce will grow to more than 100, with the addition of Adelaide Hills Foods existing workforce of 76.
In May 2023, Bedford announced it was building a state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing hub worth more than $45 million.
It was designed to allow the organisation to specialise in advanced manufacturing across several fields, including furniture making, the supply of components to the commercial joinery and construction industry, and food and beverage.
Part of the build included a first-class Food and Beverage hub with hospitality retail offerings including commercial kitchen, beverage production facilities, and a public entertainment area.
