Coles Fresh advisor and celebrity chef Curtis Stone visited Manbulloo Mangoes in Giru and Pacific Reef Fisheries at Ayr recently to officially announce loan assistance for the two innovative businesses through Coles’ Nurture Fund.
In addition the $500,000 interest-free loan through the Nurture Fund that Manbulloo Mangoes (which has plantations in Giru, Townsville, Katherine and Mareeba) received last year, managing director Marie Piccone has now signed an eight-year supply agreement with Coles.
“The loan will allow us to plant an additional 20,000 trees at our Katherine plantation which will increase our production by 30pc over the next five years,” Ms Piccone said.
“The agreement will provide security for us as a business and the loan will help with our expansion which will see more than 50 million of our Kensington Pride mangoes sold through Coles over the life of the agreement,” she said.
She said some trees already have fruit and others are blossoming in preparation for this year’s mango season and they’re getting ready to sell around six million mangoes through Coles this year.
As part of the project, Manbulloo will employ around 60 additional people during peak season to harvest the extra volume and work in a second shift in its existing packing shed.
The business will also invest up to $1 million in additional picking machines to pick the extra volume of mangoes once production increases.
Manbulloo Mangoes was formed in 2005 with the purchase and unification of stand-alone operations at Katherine, Giru and Townsville.
“Since that time we’ve made a lot of efficiency improvements, which has seen the rate of premium grade mangoes produced at Katherine alone jump from 24pc to 90pc.
“We had quick jumps in the early years and now we’re tweaking our farm management techniques to continue increasing the quality and consistency of our produce.”
Ms Piccone said the expansion is coming at a really good time as the business is currently struggling to meet demand.
“It’s that strong consumer pull for our produce that Coles has recognised; we don’t look at this current expansion plan as the end of the story, but a milestone in our continuing journey.”
Mr Stone said Coles purchases 96.6pc of their fruit and vegetables domestically which is a number the supermarket chain wants to continue to see increase.
“Prawns and mangoes are synonymous with summer in Australia and this announcement ultimately means consumers will be able to access more in-season Aussie-grown produce at Coles,” he said.
Businesses with less than $25 million in annual revenue and 50 or fewer full-time employees can apply now for round three of funding from the Coles Nurture Fund.
