To our valued community,
We hope you had a restful and happy Easter – we certainly enjoyed lots of locally made chocolate!
It’s been month of continued connections with FAN Members opening up their facilities to share insights and inspirations at Member Meet Ups and a special Best Practice Food Tech Tour.
With thanks to our friends at the Sunshine Coast Council, FAN Members went on a Food Tech Tour – read about it below.
In our regular monthly meet ups we were also privileged to hear insights from Terri Waller SevenGen, Sarah and the team from Nutworks and Sarah from Basilea Living Herbs. Our Member Meet Ups are always great connection opportunities – hosted by our valued members. Keen to come along? Details of the next meet ups are here.
We’re also gearing up for our biggest event of the year Meet the Makers. Tuesday 2 May. Have you booked your exhibitor spot or networking ticket – with over 300+ buyers and supporters – its shaping up to be another FANtastic event.
We’re also pleased to welcome onboard New Era Law as a FAN Partner and look forward to hosting a special FAN Business Bites on Tuesday 16 May.
We’re delighted to share details of FAN hosted events as part of two regional food festivals GourMay and The Curated Plate – details also below.
And finally – we’d love your input! Feedback from our members is very important, so we can design our activities around what’s important to you. We kindly request 5 minutes of your time to help us finalise our 2023 program. Please see survey here – and thanks in advance.
Cheers,
Nicole McNaughton
Interim FAN CEO.
Table of Contents
FAN Events
FAN Partnerships
Top 10 Mistakes Made by SMES and how to prevent them.
Delivered by our valued partner New Era Law – In this session, Brendan Leighton, Managing Director will provide a practical overview of some common legal and commercial mistakes made by SMEs. The presentation will also cover how to mitigate these risks in a cost effective way. The topics covered will include business structuring from an asset protection and tax planning perspective, risk management, intellectual property protection, employment law and commercial contracts.
Protecting your Business: Understanding Product Recall Insurance
Delivered by our valued partner KBI Insurance – this webinar provides a comprehensive understanding of the importance of product recall insurance and how it can help protect your business from financial losses in the event of a recall. If you missed the live webinar, please view the recording HERE or download the article HERE.
Out and About
FAN Food Tech Tour
Great connections and conversations happen when FAN members go on tour!
We were warmly welcomed to our first stop at Lang’s Gourmet, where our gracious hosts, Mark and Kathryn, generously shared their time and knowledge while showing us around their brand new, custom-built HACCP approved cooking facility and warehouse. As a special treat we were sent on our way with a bag of Lang’s Gourmet goodies!
Our next stop took us to the Food Pilot Plant at the Health and Food Sciences Precinct where the DAF team showed us around the state of the art facility designed to conduct scientific research and trial new products or processes. We look forward to sharing more details on how to access this facility in the near future.
A very big thank you to Cat Lowe from the Sunshine Coast Economic Development Team for supporting the day and to Josh from Creative Tours for getting us home safely.
Upcoming Grants & Awards
Accessible Tourism Grant Accessible Tourism Infrastructure Grant – aims to provide funding support for sole traders, small and medium size tourism and events businesses to improve tourism and events infrastructure and accessibility. |
Nuffield Scholarship
Applications have opened for Nuffield Australia’s 2024 Scholarship program. FAN is also happy to write a letter of recommendation for interested applications. Applications close 9 June 2023. More details here.
QRIDA support
Sustainability Loan – improving productivity and innovation in farming businesses.
Drought Preparedness Grant – helping farm business be more resilient for future droughts.
Horticulture Netting Program – offset the cost of purchasing and installing netting.
Find grants that suit your business with the QLD Government Grants Finder
Thanks to the Successful Grants team who have provided the above information. Please contact the team if you would like to chat about how they can support you.
Member Resources & Opportunities
EOI’s open: New Food Festival Call Our for Providores
Providore Park is Brisbane’s newest gourmet food and drink event that will showcase an array of local makers and creators for an alfresco weekend of gastronomic wining and dining from 8 to 9 July 2023 and EOI’s are now open. For more info please contact the FAN team.
Free From Allergy Show
EOIs Open
The Free From + Allergy Show focusses on dietary and lifestyle conditions & concerns and showcases all facets of allergy and free from. Contact the FAN team for a prospectus and information pack.
Food Futures Company GROW2Asia™ Future Protein Program
Applications are now open for the program delivered in partnership with global agrifood tech impact accelerator GROW (Singapore).This 5-month program is to support Australian scale-ups to capture the opportunity in Asia. More info here.
Diverse Queensland Workforce an initiative, funded by the QLD Government aimed at addressing the current skills shortages by linking qualified and work ready migrants to local employment opportunities. More information here or call on (07) 5353 0503.
International immersion tour opportunity with the 2023 AgriFutures growAG. Innovation Immersion Tour. Applications close Wednesday 26th April – for more info – head here.
The QUT Advisory Market Entry Accelerator 2023 is looking for scaling Australian fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) businesses that want expert advice and connections in order to enter the UK market, including an exclusive opportunity to pitch to a leading UK supermarket chain. Applications close 21 April. More info here.
Migrant Job Fair and Business Expo
Saturday 27 May
If you are a business or an industry sector that is struggling to find local talent and fill vacancies, this event is for you! The event will also provide the opportunity for our local migrant communities to showcase their talent, meet with businesses and industry looking for employees. RSVP HERE.
Member News
Grand Champion ‘Best Cheese in Oz!’
Woombye Cheese have taken out the gong of Grand Champion at the Australian Grand Dairy Awards for their delicious Woombye Blackall Gold – officially the best cheese in Australia. A very big congratulations to the entire team!
Support the Sauce!
We’re loving the The Village Pickle Kickstarter campaign! Good luck Jaimi and Brendan!
White’s IGA received 4 IGA QNN State Retail Excellence Awards
A huge congrats to Roz, Michael and the team at White’s IGA – so well deserved – a FANtastic result – and a testament to your vision of passionately supporting local.
Mt Coolum – Delicatessen of the year
Mt Coolum – Dairy Freezer
Peregian Beach – Fresh Produce
Baringa – Customer Service and Experience Award
Mary Valley Rattler receives acclaim!
The Mary Valley Rattler has been named in the ’12 Most Beautiful and Scenic Train Rides in the World’ by Hunter and Bligh. Congratulations to the whole team at the Rattler on this wonderful achievement!
Our Supporters
Special thanks to FAN’s Partners and Sponsors who provide significant resources towards the ongoing sustainability of FAN and the growth and resilience of our regions’ food and agribusiness industry.
