Two businessmen have returned to the Goulburn Valley this year to purchase and reinvigorate a local food company.

Mark Morley and Tom Paterson bought Provincial Food Group from Adelaide company Beston Global Food Company in July.

The Lemnos-based enterprise produces value-added meat products for local manufacturers and burger chains.

The partners have agreed that soaring energy prices are the biggest challenge to the company to run its blast freezers and chillers, despite having 360 solar panels on the facility’s roof.

“We are concerned for business owners like us in the region that are dealing with both higher labour costs and skyrocketing electricity costs, against a backdrop of declining consumer spending,” Dr Morley said.

“Our major concern in the current economic and political climate, is the viability of manufacturing in regional Australia.”

Dr Morley said both partners had spent their childhoods in the Goulburn Valley.

“In Numurkah for me, and in Cobram for Tom, so we are not strangers to the region,” Dr Morley said.

“Now back in Shepparton, we are lucky to work with around 30 staff as we grow this business back into a significant food manufacturer and exporter.”

Dr Morley said the community had been very welcoming, with the company hosting visits by the mayor and state and federal MPs.

The partners have also visited the Committee for Greater Shepparton, and the council’s planning and economic development department helped the partners when they were considering buying the business.

“And we have been lucky to connect with other food producers and business owners who want to see the region grow,” Mr Paterson said.

The company has also donated several tonnes of burgers to FoodShare to feed school children.

The pair said relationships with new and existing customers depended on precise timing with delivering meat products.

“The timelines are incredibly tight — given the short shelf life of meat — so we need to be deeply embedded into the logistics and product lines of our customers so that we become part of their business,” Dr Morley said.

Dr Morley has a PhD in international law and has worked for the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) as a diplomat and senior trade commissioner, based in the Middle East and South Asia.

He has also studied Arabic at university and can speak Arabic, Hindi and Farsi to staff.

After the 9/11 attacks in the United States, he was required to study Arabic further and then joined Austrade as a Middle East specialist.

From this experience, Provincial now produces halal ‘beef bacon’ for Middle Eastern markets.

“It tastes, cooks and eats like real bacon, but of course, it’s acceptable for Muslims,” Dr Morley said.

Mr Paterson has also brought experience from a varied career, including with his father in their business Scorpio Meats, the forerunner to Provincial.

He has also worked in an employment service, the mining sector and meat industry.

His expertise is in production and manufacturing, and he is considered by his partner as “formidable”.

“He is unflappable, which is often needed in this industry,” Dr Morley said.

The duo has also shared extra-curricular experiences, having climbed Mt Kilimanjaro, completed the Kokoda Track and raised almost $40,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

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Saturday, 13th July 2024

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