Mt Pleasant organic producers Evie and Marco Forg get ready for the town's first farmers' market this Saturday.

A new farmers’ market will give one Mt Pleasant family the chance to grow their organic produce business.
Marco and Evie Forg switched to eating organic food for health reasons about 12 years ago and the results of the change were so good that they haven’t looked back.
Now they want to share the benefits of chemical-free food with others, by running two stalls at the new Mt Pleasant Farmers’ Market.
The pair will be among up to 30 stallholders taking part in the inaugural market, to be launched this Saturday by popular chef Simon Bryant, of the ABC series The Cook and The Chef.
One stall, Forganix, will sell certified organic snack mix and homemade cakes and biscuits.
“In the long run we will be selling organic produce from our property, such as fruit, vegetables and eggs, but since we only moved here two months ago there’s not much to sell yet,” Mr Forg said.

Read the full story in The Courier

Anthony Skara with his newly repackaged smallgoods that will be sent interstate. He believes an appellation control scheme that protects the Adelaide Hills brand as a premium food producing region would be a key marketing tool.

Over the past four years Anthony and Deanna Skara have built up the reputation of their smallgoods company at Nairne.

Now Skara Smallgoods is expanding to sell its award-winning products interstate.

For Mr Skara, the name “Adelaide Hills” already goes hand-in-hand with quality.

It is something the company is highlighting as it repackages its products for an expanded market.

“We are trying to package them so we have a new way of selling our products and the packaging would have a tie to the Adelaide Hills,” he said.

“It would reflect why we came up here, for the country feel, the quality of the food around there – we source everything we need locally.”

An appellation system that recognises the Adelaide Hills food producing region could become a key marketing tool for businesses such as his, he said.

“It’s like a quiet achiever, the Adelaide Hills,” Mr Skara said. “There’s a lot of artisan producers out there producing quality produce.

“The company distributing our product in Melbourne sources 80% of its products from the Adelaide Hills.

“… We do have a diverse range of food being made here and it’s quality food.

“The Barossa is renowned around the world for its wine and food, but I believe the Adelaide Hills is going to step up a bit more.”

(The Courier, 8 June 2011)

Anthony Paech, managing director of Beerenberg which was been inducted into the SA Food Industry Hall of Fame.

Hills based business Beerenberg is in the spot light once again after being inducted into the SA Food Industry Hall of Fame.
The Hahndorf strawberry farm now stands alongside other iconic SA family businesses such as Angelakis Brothers, Bickford’s Australia and the Coopers Brewery.
The honor was announced at the SA Premier’s Food Industry Awards earlier this month when another family owned Hills business, Udder Delights, won the Food SA Growing Small Business Award.
Beerenberg was established in 1971 by Grant and Carol Paech, and is now run by their three children who are the sixth generation of Paechs to work on the land.
The farm produces a range of jams, preserves, condiments and sauces which are sold nationally and internationally.
Beerenberg managing director Anthony Paech said the recent accolade came as “a bit of a surprise”.
“It’s a marvellous honor,” he said.
“To be put up against these wonderful companies is truly a very exciting and humbling experience and it’s nice for a family company in the Hills to get some publicity as well.
“ … It’s kind of like we’ve taken the next step, as a company we’ve gone from being a small to medium sized business to a medium business.”
At the same time, Mr Paech has also been selected to lead Food SA, as the inaugural chair of the recently formed board of members.
Food SA is an amalgamation of Flavor SA and Food Adelaide, and aims to drive the State’s food industry.
Mr Paech said he was very excited to be leading the group.
“The board hopes to harness the full potential of SA’s food industry and bring an incredible collective of both knowledge and experience to the table,” he said.
Co-owner of Udder Delights Sheree Sullivan said winning the business award was “a good pat on the back for 11 years of hard work”.
Mrs Sullivan and her parents Trevor and Estelle Dunford established the business in 1999 with an artisan cheese factory in Lobethal.
The business now also has a cellar door along Hahndorf’s main street.
While the business has won a number of cheese and tourism awards, Mrs Sullivan said this was the first significant business award for Udder Delights.

Courtesy The Courier

- Full story by Lisa Pahl in the 17 Nov 2010 issue of The Courier

Kris Lloyd

Inventing new products is one of the things Woodside Cheese Wrights’ Kris Lloyd loves most about her job.
But she admits the path to innovation is not always paved with resounding successes – and sometimes her new ideas turn out to be spectacular flops.
However, the Woodside business owner believes those occasional failures are just as valuable as the success stories.
“There are always little disasters when you are inventing,” she said.
“… It’s good sometimes for things not to work out right because you learn from that.
“You learn more from the stuff that doesn’t go right than you do from the stuff that does go right.”
Ms Lloyd’s enthusiasm for product and business development was recognised earlier this month when she won the Telstra Business Women’s Award for Business Innovation.
Since she took over Woodside Cheese Wrights more than a decade ago, Ms Lloyd has expanded the company’s range of seasonal cheeses to 24 varieties, many of which are multiple award winners.Risky
It has come through an ongoing process of trial and error.
“It’s great to have the recognition for something that I guess is a bit of a risk because, at times, innovation can be a bit risky,” she said.
“But I feel it’s something that is going to hold us in good stead.
“We are presenting new and fresh ideas to our customers all the time … I think we are now renowned for our innovative approach to cheesemaking.”
The key to innovation in business was a healthy dose of caution and planning, along with enthusiasm, Ms Lloyd said.
“You just need to be careful when you are thinking about doing something innovative and to do it in a conservative manner,” she said.
“I always do small batches of new cheeses to start with.
“But you have also got to approach it in a confident manner.
“I don’t do these sorts of things on my own, I involve all my girls (cheesemakers) … being a bit innovative creates a really fantastic atmosphere in the factory.” Ms Lloyd has applied her skills to innovation in cheese marketing. She helped create the annual CheeseFest, which was held in Adelaide earlier this month and brings together cheese producers from around the State.
Ms Lloyd has also worked to expand professional education and training programs through Cheese SA, the industry body she established in 2004.

- The Courier

The event will run from 7-9pm and dinner and drinks will cost $50. For bookings call 8339 2345 or email andrew@stirlinghotel.com.au

Other key trends emerging that are likely to have a profound effect on the market include cooking at home, inherent nutrition, functional superstars, going immune, new delivery for energy, free from rises, extreme flavours and real authenticity.

Their August review includes international product examples and highlights launches over the past few years.

Innova Market Insights reviews and news features are provided free on the SA Food Centre website and highlight the latest international trends, data and product insights on food and beverage categories.

Innova – Top Ten Trends (pdf, 4.3mb)

1. Pitch new recipes and great photography to food writers and include a benefit or value e.g. “fresh, fabulous and filling for $5”.
2. Promote the health benefits of seasonal produce to food, health and beauty writers
3. Start your own ‘masterclass’ to profile your chef’s talent and invite food media
4. Package your produce or product and send it to food writers and editors along with your media release
5. Launch your new business or restaurant with a high profile identity or celebrity to get media coverage
6. New head chef? Tell the media what inspires their cooking, what menu changes  there will be and what their background or experience is
7. Start a blog to become an expert commentator in your industry, start commenting on trends in food/wine, or respond to existing food/wine blogs.
8. Take photos of celebrities/well known people at your launch event and send them (with names and a caption) to newspapers and magazines with social pages (including this one, of course).
9. Promote the business side of your business: is it expanding? Are you exporting overseas? Have you reached a significant milestone/anniversary?

Courtesy www.prguru.com.au

Baylies of Strathalbyn and Udder Delights of Lobethal are in the running for the Growing Small Business Award, while Cocolat is contending for the SARDI Leading Innovation Award.

Winners will be announced on Friday November 5.