Land of Plenty Food Group | Celebrating Australian Food and Agribusiness Innovations 2021
Land of Plenty Food Co is a manufacturer of premium foods and award-winning brands including the Our Family Table range of oven ready gluten free crumbed seafood.
Founder Karen Lavecky was focused on the food service and independent grocer sector for many years, until late 2019 when she took the plunge and launched the Our Family Table range into Coles. That move proved fortuitous when Australia’s perfect storm of drought, fires and floods was compounded by the pandemic in early 2020 and the food service market was decimated. With airlines grounded and venues forced to close, the retail channel became vital, leading to expansion of the Our Family Table supermarket range.
The first new addition was a crumbed prawn croquette made using Australian prawns. In a category dominated by imports, the Our Family Table offering stands out, adhering to the brand’s philosophy of using premium product and allowing the core ingredient to shine.
Karen says FIAL has been a driving support system for the business. “We’ve been lucky enough to participate in many of the programs that FIAL offers, as well as to be the recipient of grants on offer. That gave us a platform to explore, develop and successfully extend our range at a time when many businesses stalled."
“It allowed us to redefine ourselves as we navigated through the trauma of 2020. Successfully developing new products in one of the only categories to thrive during COVID-19 has had a huge positive impact on our business,” she said.
For Karen, funding is only part of the bigger picture. “Partnership with FIAL is what you make of it. As a business owner, I’m grateful for the financial support of course, but there is greater opportunity if you are open to it. "
“We’ve been introduced to overseas buyers through FIAL and look to be partnering with a group to take Our Family Table products into new international markets. Our newest innovation — the Australian prawn croquette — has been a wonderful hook to interested buyers, allowing us to showcase a selection of premium Australian products,” she said.
