With finalists for the 2026 Hive Awards announced this week, Food & Drink Business is looking back at some of the companies recognised over the past two years – and what they have done since.
Three years ago, Food & Drink Business launched a national awards program – The Hive Awards – to celebrate and recognise excellence and innovation across the sector. The program has shone a light on some remarkable people and companies, and we are excited to see who steps onto the stage this year. For now, here are just some of the past winners and their success as a Hive Awards recipient.
Gina’s Table was the standout performer at the 2025 Hive Awards, taking home both the Gamechanger Award (jointly with TomKat Global Solutions) and the Golden Hive for its model of diverting second-grade fruit into freeze-dried, value-added products.
Since winning, Gina’s Table GM, Gina Dang, has reported reducing the amount of produce going to landfill by 80 per cent. The company has expanded its collaborations with other producers and is working on its longer-term goal to establish multiple factories across Australia’s farming regions, addressing logistical and supply chain constraints that make food rescue expensive at scale.
TomKat Global Solutions shared the 2025 Gamechanger Award for its KoolPak system, a reusable and recyclable cold chain packaging alternative to expanded polystyrene, developed across five patent families and capable of more than 30 uses per unit. Since winning, the company has moved toward global commercialisation. Unable to secure support for local manufacturing, founders Tom and Kath Long relocated production to Thailand, with assistance from Austrade and the Thai government.
The facility is set to produce one million KoolPaks annually – with the potential to eliminate up to 10 million single-use polystyrene boxes from landfill each year. TomKat has also signed an exclusive supply agreement with Thai Sekisui Foam and Sekisui Foam Australia for the foam materials used in the liner. The company has raised $4.3 million to date and is pursuing a Series A raise to fund its global rollout.
The 2025 Rising Star, Elato Ice Cream, was acquired by ASX-listed Pure Foods Tasmania (PFT) in November 2025. PFT obtained all intellectual property, brand assets, recipes, and supply arrangements, with founder Roz Kaldor-Aroni appointed as general manager of a newly created Ice Cream Division – combining Elato with PFT’s existing Cashew Creamery brand. The brand is now stocked in more than 630 stores across Australia.
The 2024 Gamechanger Award went to the collaboration between OzHarvest Ventures and Kakadu Kitchen for the Conscious Drink, a lightly sparkling zero-alcohol wine alternative made from rescued blueberries and wild-harvested native botanicals. The product has since been relaunched for a second season, with more than two tonnes of Coffs Harbour blueberries diverted from waste in the latest batch. The drink is now poured at the Sydney Opera House, Rockpool Bar & Grill, Ester, Arthur, and dozens of other venues nationally, and is available through the OzHarvest online store.
Local Manufacturing Award winner for 2025, Packserv, reported its strongest year of trade in FY25, with a 20 per cent lift in profitability and a tripling of manufacturing output. The company also announced an international distribution alliance with US-based FP Developments, marking its first formal expansion into the American market.
Treasury Wine Estates, which took out the 2025 Best Technology Award for its Barossa Valley barrel management system, has continued to invest heavily, building a $15 million NoLo alcohol wine production facility, bringing its total additional investment in the location over three years to more than $190 million. It is the largest premium wine bottling operation in the southern hemisphere, and celebrated its 20th anniversary in August 2025.
This article first appeared in the Q1 2026 edition of Food & Drink Business magazine.
Join us when we announce the winners of the 2026 Hive Awards:
Time: 12:30pm
When: Thursday, 21 May
Where: Linseed House, The Grounds of Alexandria, Sydney
