Building relationships at fine food expo

A number of Western Australian fine food companies have travelled to Sydney this week to network with 250 international buyers at the Fine Food Australia expo.

Osborne Park-based breadcrumb producer, Kookakrumb, is hoping to use the event to further expand its market in Asia.

The company, which exports between 500 and 1,000 packets of breadcrumbs to Bali each week, is on the verge of signing a distribution agreement with a company in Japan.

Founded 10 years ago by geologist Kevin Lynch, Kookakrumb manufactures five varieties of breadcrumbs and produces about 6,500 packets each week.

The company has hit a hurdle with its new contract due to a food standards issue, however.

“We use bread softeners here in Australia and the chemical is banned in Japan, so we’ve had to remove it from our bread to get our product into Japan,” Mr Lynch said.

The company’s largest market is Victoria, which receives about 1,500 packets a week, followed by the local market.

“Our biggest volume and area of growth is from the eastern states,” Mr Lynch said.

He said the company was also looking to enter the British market.

Kookakrumb started selling its product at local fish and chips shops and has since established distribution agreements with supermarket chains IGA, Coles and Woolworths.

O’Connor-based Sticky Fingers Gourmet Foods is also exhibiting at the expo.

Sticky Fingers, which produces a condiments line, currently supplies hospitality and bulk food service markets in Bahrain, the Maldives, and Malaysia, as well as a small retail market in Singapore.

Sticky Fingers founder Lyn Bentley said she hoped to expand the business into Jakarta, Japan, Malaysia, Dubai and the US in the next six months. 

She said she was focusing on expanding the bulk supply side of the business, rather than its retail presence.

“My aim with the business is to move into the food service area, but we need the retail side to keep our profile,” Ms Bentley said.

Sticky Fingers is a supplier to Dome Coffees Australia, among other companies.

Of the 250 buyers attending the expo, 70 are from China.

Austrade’s China country manager, Peter Osborne, said the interest from China reflected growth in the country’s middle class and urbanisation.