All Aussie Farmers sells high-quality Australian-grown produce in the Melbourne Wholesale market, where they sell exclusively to their main customers, which are high-end independent retailers and food service customers.
"We have around 200 growers who work with us throughout the year, our main products are avocados, custard apples (cherimoya), mangoes, lychees, achacha, Australian garlic and we have applied to Australian regulators to grow and market the purple tomato to the Australian market too," explains Travis Murphy, Managing Director.
"In the past, we had sourced fruit from more growers, but we have cut that number down, and we are now more selective about where we get our product. We offer very high-quality produce, better than the quality you can buy at a major retailer. Grown by mainly family farms that take pride in producing a premium product."
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Avocados
All Aussie Farmers supply many different varieties of avocado. "Currently, we are seeing a bit of oversupply, and prices are low. Demand is also low because there are a lot of financial pressures on people, and avocados are perceived as a luxury item, even when they are relatively cheap. There have also been quality issues in the last couple of years due to the very wet conditions, and when someone buys a bad avocado, it can take weeks for them to go back and buy another one. While that isn't necessarily a problem for our customer base as they manage the fruit and their customers won't see any issues because they have the experience and industry knowledge to spot a problem before a customer gets the product, that's the difference bigger chains may not have."
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Also, the quality issues were very localised and not throughout the whole season.
All Aussie Farmers sell avocados at various stages of ripeness to their customers, depending on requirements. "We have our own ripening rooms so we can supply to our customers' specifications. Some of our retail customers like them just on the break with a few days' shelf life, while the food service customers might want some fully ripened and some halfway."
The company puts a lot of effort into sourcing its avocados. "We work with a lot of second-generation growers, those with a lot of experience and knowledge. We like to help our growers promote themselves through branding. We sell in our own boxes but also encourage our growers to develop their own brands so we can build their brand and get a following in the supply chain."
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The avocado supply starts in the north of Queensland, moving down to New South Wales and then South Australia before moving over to Western Australia.
"Queensland has had a lot of rain this year, so there may be some isolated quality issues from there, and Western Australia is expecting a big crop."
For more information:
Travis Murphy
All Aussie Farmers
Tel: +61 421 020311
[email protected]
www.allaussiefarmers.com.au
