A Wagga Wagga-based business that has sold three million locally made meals since 2016 has used a $180,000 grant from the NSW government to accelerate its plans to take Riverina produce from farm gate to fridge in national supermarkets, boutique grocers and pharmacies to the next level.
Farm Door Riverina was founded by entrepreneurs Frank Coorey and Zoe Lamont after the couple moved from Sydney to Wagga Wagga in 2016 and bought a small established frozen meal company — eventually changing the business name from My Chef to Farm Door Riverina during its rebrand in early 2024.
From manufacturing around 600 frozen meals a day for the aged care sector, Meals on Wheels and local hospitals when they first began, the company now manufactures more than 50,000 ready meals per month, offers a delivery service, and has grown from a team of three in a small shop front in Wagga Wagga to a team of 30.
Farm Door Riverina received a $180,000 NSW Government grant through the Regional Job Creation Fund, with staged funding received in September 2022 and August 2023, and the expansion creating the equivalent of nine additional full-time jobs.
With the grant and matched funds, the business was able to invest in a cook-chill machine to improve food safety and shelf life, quality and yield and efficiency when cooking proteins and marinated meats.
The grant also allowed the Farm Door Riverina team to invest in a coolroom expansion, along with stainless steel tables, a conveyor belt, scales and a rotary table in the production room that has increased efficiency along the packing line and enabled the business to produce an additional 25,000 meals a month.
Farm Door Riverina has had an average of 22% revenue growth year-over-year (YOY) since launching and receiving the grant, taking into account less than 5% growth in the 2022 financial year when they had to stall growth due to rising costs of food, freight, packaging, labour and energy.
Speaking to SmartCompany, Lamont says Farm Door Riverina is now experiencing the growth enabled by the grant funding.
“The common belief is that manufacturing is typically done in the big cities, which in reality most of it is,” she says.
“We’re the only regionally based ready meal manufacturer as far as I know and this means we can do really exciting things in terms of sustainability, particularly around shortening our supply chain, which of course has so many benefits for our local growers and makers, as well as our customers and the environmental impact.
“With food costs rising as they are, to keep production costs down and maintain high-quality food products, we need to see more value adding and food and beverage manufacturing in regional Australia.”
Farm Door Riverina meals are stocked at over 60 independent supermarkets across Australia including Harris Farm Markets, Supabarn, QE Food Stores, IGAs and FoodWorks.
Its products are also stocked in more than 100 independent pharmacies across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania, with the business experiencing a 10% growth month-over-month (MOM) in this category.
Lamont says Farm Door Riverina launched chilled meals into supermarkets to enter the supermarket category in 2021 to diversify the business, which added $1 million to its turnover.
“But due to fast rising costs post COVID and many of the supermarkets being really bad payers, it had a negative impact on our bottom line so we’ve pivoted back to the frozen category and focusing now on servicing pharmacies and launching home delivery which we’re super excited about,” she says.
“Through COVID two key things happened that nearly ran our cashflow to a point we were worried about if we would get through it.
“One, a fast rise in the cost of goods, including food, freight, packaging, labour and energy costs.
“Two, supermarkets got tougher to deal with, many introduced new rebates and pay-by-scan arrangements and said no to any price increase within a 12-month period, so we were forced to run at a loss until we could reset our pricing.
“The mid-tier supermarkets are also notoriously bad payers and we are still chasing over $100,000 unpaid invoices.”
But Lamont says tough times force you to get smarter.
“Hence a focus on internal efficiencies and finding alternate markets and suppliers that cut out the middlemen that so often are the reason food becomes unaffordable for the consumer,” she says.”
Lamont says Farm Door Riverina is excited about launching home delivery and being able to create a paddock-to-plate experience in the ready meal space, as well as inviting foodies far and wide to their family farm for the inaugural Riverina Long Lunch and Good Food Weekend in September 2025.
“Our plan for next year involves opening our farm door and welcoming city visitors for farm-based food and wellness experiences,” she says.
Never miss a story: sign up to SmartCompany’s free daily newsletter and find our best stories on LinkedIn.
Comments