Jennie Franceschi describes herself as “sort of a problem solver”.
Through a strong desire to support regional sustainability and development, and provide the elderly and infants with nutritious simple foods, she and her husband Wayne have created a business with a lot of solutions.
This year, Franceschi launched her avocado-based Avovita range in Japan, a destination chosen following the range’s success in Hong Kong, Singapore and the Middle East.
It’s also available in Australia in Franceschi’s home state of Western Australia, with moves to get it into independent eastern-seaboard outlets.
In late 2015, the couple invested in a high-pressure processing (HPP) machine, which uses cold pasteurisation and intense pressure to preserve food and kill bacteria without depleting nutritional integrity.
Avovita – which literally means “avocados for life” – so far has seven SKUs which include mousses, smoothies and pure avocado pulp.
The range follows Franceschi’s Born Pure baby food range, launched early in the year. Both work to reduce food waste and provide farmers with another income stream for “seconds”.
Franceschi was recently awarded the 2017 Telstra Australian Corporate and Private Award for her work in turning food waste into value-added products.
