Food & Drink Business editor Kim Berry talks to the three directors of The Upcycling Initiative (TUI) Foods: Peter Taitoko, Tony Cartwright, and Mike Nagorcka.
We meet each of the men and discuss the experience they bring to the company – Peter’s long background in processing and fitout with his company RMR Process; Tony’s equally esteemed background in FMCG; and Mike’s experience as a fifth-generation farmer.
The discussion moves to how the business came about – and how a shared passion for fixing Australia’s broken food supply chain started from a kernel of an idea and is already looking to global markets.
The trio discuss how they tipped the supply chain model on its head and then put it back together in a model that was better for farmers as well as the environment and consumers.
The result is a model where a processing plant is built on a property in a joint venture model with the primary producer. All the equipment is designed and built locally and where possible by-product is also used, creating a micro circular economy.
Product that would have gone to waste is instead upcycled into value-added products, adding an income stream for the farmer and providing Australian ingredients to the food, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries here and overseas.
We end the discussion talking about growth plans and the number of farms already adopting the model.
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The Food & Drink Business Podcast is produced by Southern Skies Media on behalf of Food & Drink Business, owned and published by Yaffa Media.
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Host: Kim Berry
MC: Grant McHerron
Editor: Chris Visscher
Producer: Steve Visscher
Food & Drink Business - © 2022
