Ozganics Australia | Celebrating Australian Food and Agribusiness Innovations 2021
Anni Brownjohn started making sauces in her home kitchen two decades ago, using recipes developed for her family that were naturally free from allergens, artificial flavours and colours. It soon became her passion to create tasty, healthy foods that are good for the environment and cater to growing consumer demand for gluten- and dairy-free food options. In 1999 her Ozganics Australia brand became the country’s first organic sauce manufacturer.
A philosophy of innovation and health underpins all new product development at Ozganics Australia, so when Anni decided to branch out into production of infant foods for the Asian market, she partnered with an award-winning noodle producer to develop a noodle and sauce combination. A frustrating process of trial and error followed, compounded by vastly different mandated nutrient requirements for infant foods in every country. Anni turned to FIAL for advice, and discussions quickly led to a hockey-stick turn in the product development path.
To Anni, this is the value in a relationship with FIAL. “You might have a great idea that you think is going in one direction. Success for us in this instance probably won’t be the product we thought we were developing. It’s now more likely to be one that aims at a much larger demographic and plays into our expertise. The learnings from our development work and the experience and capability we can draw on within FIAL were what enabled us to pivot so quickly".
“Having a relationship where innovation is recognised and rewarded really aligns with our way of doing things. The funding FIAL provided enabled us to gather deep market information using professional researchers and nutritionists. It will open us to a much larger market and deliver more benefit in the long run,” she said.
