Family-owned maker of wet food products, Birch & Waite opened its new $13.5 million factory in the Sydney suburb of Revesby on Friday.
The machinery on-site includes a Shaking Retort, which is the first commercial sized machine of its type in the Southern Hemisphere.
While to start with the Revesby site will employ 20 workers, it is hoped that number will grow to 45.
Assistant Minister for Industry Innovation and Science Craig Laundy, along with owners Willi Schultheiss (pictured top) and Peter Flick, were on-hand to open the facility.
“When you use the term innovation and you walk through this factory and you see robots and equipment and machinery, the broader Australian public get scared that they’re going to lose their jobs,” said Laundy.
“However, with the opening of this facility comes 20 new jobs and from the day the business started in 1980 with three staff, today the business has 123 staff. That’s the joy of small and family business.”
Containing high speed packaging machines and state of the art equipment, the site is set to drive over $20 million in growth for the business. A $4 million turnover is predicted for its first year of operation, which will focus on the firm’s specialty health range, sachet packing and processing.
“The new technology allows for a higher vitamin retention and lower salt use, while retaining a superior taste with a longer shelf life and no preservatives,” explained David Charles, general manager of Birch & Waite. “High pH sauces that contain fresh ingredients will keep their full flavour, nutritional value and freshness thanks to the quick thermal cooking process it allows. The end results are products that taste as if a chef has just created them.”
Alongside premium batch products for consumers and professional chefs, the new site has provided Birch & Waite the ability to develop and bring to market a new range of Thickened Liquid health products for those suffering from dysphagia– a disorder that causes difficulty, or inability to swallow.
“We realised that as well as developing products with good flavours, there is a clear need in the health care sector for a new, more palatable product to support the hydration and nutrition requirements of people with dysphagia. The new technology at Revesby has made this possible,” said Charles. “A good deal of development went into the design of the products to enable them to work with the functionality of the equipment to produce a range of well received product.”
