From family farm to national food manufacturer

More than 40 years ago, Fiona Whatley's parents, Jo and Ray Barber, welcomed kindergarten and school children onto the family farm for a day of hay bale rides, collecting eggs and learning where food came from.

Before heading home, every visitor received a slice baked in the farmhouse kitchen, enjoyed while sitting on the hay bales.

Today, Fiona and her husband James lead Springhill Farm, a manufacturer of better-for-you snacks that has seen incredible growth from those humble beginnings.

“Forty years on, we're supplying people like Qantas, Virgin, Coles, Woolies, Officeworks, all sorts of places, and we're also a contract manufacturer for lots of Australia's better-for-you leading brands.”

Caught in the middle

For the Whatleys, innovation isn't simply about creating the next new product.

It's become one of the most important ways to stay competitive.

“FMCG is literally fast moving,” Fiona said. “So, innovation is not a choice, it's actually mandatory to do it.”

The challenge, she said, is balancing rising costs with increasingly price-conscious consumers.

“There are cost pressures, whether that be employment, energy or freight with everything that's happening in the world at the moment,” she said.

“But also, consumers are looking to buy on promotion, due to cost-of-living pressures. They are looking to save, so really what that means for manufacturers and for brands is that you're getting kind of caught in the middle, needing to closely manage costs to stay competitive.”

Rather than passing those costs on, the business has focused on finding efficiencies throughout its operations.

How innovation is helping

Investments in new production lines and moving to 24-hour manufacturing have helped lower unit costs and improve efficiency, according to James, and there are more full-time production lines in the works.

“Those sorts of improvements in processing allow us to reduce our per unit costs so that we don't actually need to pass on those price increases,” he said.

The business recently completed its five-year strategic plan and expects to double production on its existing Ballarat site before needing to expand again.

“The basic plan is to increase output by 100 per cent on the same footprint site,” James said. “We expect that within five years, we'll then have outgrown this site and so then we’ll be looking to take another leap into the future.”

While its products are now found in supermarkets, airline snack packs, lunchboxes and workplaces across Australia, the company's purpose remains unchanged: using simple ingredients to make snacking happier again.

“There are always new flavours coming out of the test kitchen. It's one of the best bits of our job,” she said. “We're trying great food every single day and we’re making things that make people happy.”