Today, August 18, Coles Fresh Advisor and Chef Curtis Stone will visit Manbulloo Mangoes to announce a new long-term supply agreement which will see more than 50 million of Manbulloo’s popular Kensington Pride mangoes sold through Coles over the life of the eight year agreement.
The announcement comes after the innovative NT and QLD mango grower received an interest-free loan from the Coles Nurture Fund last year to increase its production of locally-grown mangoes by up to 30 per cent.
Manbulloo Mangoes team
Manbulloo Mangoes team
To help meet growing consumer demand, Manbulloo will plant an additional 20,000 new mango trees over the next two years at its farm in Katherine, NT, with support from the Coles Nurture Fund.
As part of the project, Manbulloo will employ around 60 additional people during peak season to harvest the extra volume and work in a second shift in its existing packing shed. The business will also invest up to $1 million in additional picking machines to pick the extra volume of mangoes once production increases.
Coles Fresh Adviser Curtis Stone and Manbulloo Mangoes MD Marie Piccone
Coles Fresh Adviser Curtis Stone and Manbulloo Mangoes MD Marie Piccone
Manbulloo has supplied mangoes to Coles for 10 years and began supplying directly in 2012. As Australia’s largest producer of Kensington Pride and R2E2 mangoes, Manbulloo has two farms at Townsville, one farm near Mareeba and one in Katherine. Across Manbulloo’s properties, more than 67,000 mango trees are currently in production and 350 people are employed by Manbulloo Mangoes during peak season.
Coles launched the Coles Nurture Fund in April 2015, announcing it would provide $50 million in grants and interest-free loans over five years to businesses in the food and grocery sector so they could grow and innovate. For more information, visit www.coles.com.au/nurturefund