Anchor Food Professionals maintains its commitment to the foodservice market throughout challenging times

Introducing our new series in which we look at major players and topical concerns across the spectrum of the foodservice market.

For our inaugural instalment we turn to Anchor Food Professionals, the foodservice brand of global dairy company Fonterra, which creates high quality, fit for purpose products and solutions for foodservice businesses in more than 50 countries. Anchor Food Professionals is also the brand behind Australia’s leading foodservice mentoring program Proud to Be a Chef. Director of B2B Jeff Dhu and Channel Marketing Manager Kym Gill gave us an insight into how the business has responded to the challenges of the past 12 months and reiterated its ongoing commitment to the Australian foodservice market.

“Of all the business units within Fonterra, ours was the most directly hit by the pandemic due obviously to its impact on our foodservice customers,” Jeff acknowledges. “We had to pivot to ensure all our people were well and safe and had job security, and at the same time we had some unique challenges coming from our customers around inventory management that we partnered with them to solve. We’ve always been committed to finding solutions that will support foodservice businesses, but of course none of us had experienced the issues we were suddenly faced with, as a society as well as a business. I’m pleased to say we were able to work with many of our customers in overcoming these challenges – certainly there was an increased level of communication and working together, which came out of us all asking ‘how can we collectively arm ourselves with solutions for our business, our distributors and our customers?’

One of the key challenges was inventory management – “Our distributors and customers had their regular supplies of stock which suddenly became surplus to their needs, and of course dairy products come with a use-by date. To help tackle the enormity of the problem, we assisted with inventory management – both within our own business and our distributors. With many foodservice customers pivoting to takeaway, product was still being used but not at the same levels, so we reduced our minimum order quantities to help distributors manage their own circumstances. Victoria was clearly more challenged than the other states, so we moved product from there to other markets.

“We successfully navigated a difficult period,” Jeff affirms. “The motto that came through very strongly was that we’re all in this together – we couldn’t walk away from our customers and we certainly didn’t want them to walk away from us. As we’re part of a global business, we were able to look at what was happening around the world and learn from other markets. For example, our business in China recovered relatively quickly, so that gave us the perspective that this was likely to be a time-bound issue. Yes, it was difficult but it would be overcome, whether in three, six or twelve months we didn’t know, but at least we were able to look for a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Investment continues in new product development

Some twelve months on, Jeff says business has not quite returned to pre-pandemic numbers, but it’s getting closer. “There are some channels in foodservice that we need to get back, such as airlines and tourism, and of course there are still restrictions in place regarding numbers inside restaurants in many states that are yet to be fully lifted. Foodservice businesses in CBDs are still struggling because so many office workers are still working from home at least some of the time and we don’t know when or if that will go back to how it was before.”

Anchor Food Professionals has long been known for its product innovation and focus on providing solutions to foodservice, and Jeff says that hasn’t changed: “We’ve still got a very healthy NPD pipeline and we’re continuing to invest in it – in fact we’re probably tackling it more aggressively now than ever before. After the events of the past year we’re more focused than ever on supporting the market by providing solutions that will assist from an efficiency perspective. That’s incredibly important, because staff are harder to come by for a number of reasons, such as the lack of international students and the restrictions on travel. So foodservice professionals are looking for products that will save them time and labour, as opposed to creating more work, and that’s our focus moving forward.”

Fonterra’s commitment to the Australian market is also exemplified by rebuilding, innovating and expanding Fonterra’s cheese production facility in Stanhope in Victoria after a devastating fire some years earlier. “That investment has been pivotal in moving our Mozzarella production from New Zealand to Australia, which has been very good for the local market,” Jeff affirms. “We’ve also recently acquired secondary processing sites in Tullamarine and Campbellfield, so we now have the ability to further process product locally.”

Proud to Be a Chef – supporting Australia’s future culinary leaders

Also affected by the events of the year was the Proud to Be a Chef program. Channel Marketing Manager Kym Gill explains: “We always take a people first, safety first lens, and with uncertainty around interstate travel as the February masterclass dates grew closer, we decided the right thing to do was postpone it until later in the year. We were always committed to continuing with Proud to Be a Chef when the time was right and we intend to run our usual program of events at the beginning of October, assuming we have the environment in which to do so.

“The Proud to Be a Chef program is usually launched in October each year, and last year’s was no different, but via a digital webinar which enabled TAFEs all across Australia to participate. By moving the launch to the digital environment, we found we were able to engage with a wider audience, which resulted in a stronger than ever number of applications,” says Kym.

“Certainly we’re continuing our investment in the program and we’re actually in the early stages of rolling out Proud to Be a Chef for 2022. We remain committed to supporting Australia’s future culinary leaders – we want the industry to stay healthy and continue to evolve, so our focus is all about continuing that support through the challenges that may lie ahead.”

Highlighting the importance of mental health in foodservice

The business is also dedicated to providing mental health support not only to its employees, but to the broader communities in the towns where it has a farm milk collection and processing presence.

“We are committed to having a mentally healthy Fonterra family and for some years we have also made mental health and resilience a key component of Proud to Be a Chef,” says Jeff. “Wayne Schwass of Puka Up has worked with our apprentices for the past four years, arming them with knowledge and skills to improve their mental health management that we strongly believe will assist them in future years.

“With mental health concerns further exacerbated by the events of the past year, we’ve expanded our partnership with Puka Up and the Black Dog Institute who are providing us with resources so we can go out to the regions where we operate and invite the community to participate in educational forums.

“We know that mental health issues are significantly higher in rural communities, so we feel an obligation to do what we can to highlight these issues and provide support, given that the mental health statistics in rural Victoria are alarming. The events are open to the community and free to attend, with Wayne Schwass sharing his mental health journey, and the Black Dog Institute educating participants about the resources available to them to help manage their mental health.”

Looking to the future, Anchor Food Professionals remains committed to keeping its finger on the pulse of foodservice marketplace trends. “Even pre-pandemic, it was becoming more challenging for businesses to manage their costs and they were looking for product solutions that deliver high quality and cost-effectiveness while being fit for purpose,” Jeff points out. “Coming out the other side, we’re seeing a renewed focus on health and wellness, as well as a greater emphasis on sustainability and local ingredients. At the same time, indulgence and premiumisation still comes into play – because consumers want to indulge when they eat out. We also know home delivery is a far bigger piece of the market now, estimated to have grown to up to 30 per cent, so we need to make sure our products are providing the best possible performance while taking into account the delivery cycle – they need to be able to stay the course from the commercial kitchen to the home.

“So we look at all those trends and then think about where we want to innovate, while always putting the customer at the forefront of what we do. More than ever it’s about delivering fit for purpose solutions and quality ingredients that our customers can trust will meet the needs of their consumers.”