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Billabong Products
Located in Jerilderie, Billabong Produce is a vertically integrated operation that grows and processes tomatoes for their own and other well known brands such as San Remo. As well as plain tomatoes they produce many sauces to a variety of recipes.
'We started out just farming and got into tomato growing in the summer of 1984-85,' says Serge.
'Originally we sold our tomatoes to processors but we were always left with some that hadn't been bought. Rather than dig them into the ground we decided to build a small factory to process this excess ourselves and bottle it in 1989.'
This first iteration of their processing plant was very small scale and Serge laughs when he admits that it had a hand-operated spiggot. It's a far cry from the current operation.
'We run the plant for only 3-4 months per year after the crop is harvested. During that time we process around 25,000 tonnes of tomatoes.'
Once the tomatoes are processed into cans or bottles they are stored and labelled on-site and then shipped to customers all over the country.
'We have about 1 million cans of tomatoes here right now. We spend the months when we aren't processing them distributing the product to customers.'
Billabong produce has its own trucks and according to Serge, at any time they have at least two of their semis interstate.
Jerilderie is located right on the Newell Highway which makes it easy to access all markets. The fact that they are located right where they grow the tomatoes is a huge advantage since it simplifies transport of the fruit from the farm gate to the factory.
In fact all of Billabong's inbound logistics are simplified by their location, Serge says they get the cans, labels and boxes from organisations around the region — typically Shepparton and Albury-Wodonga.
Billabong produce is a family business and reflects their ingenuity and entrepreneurial approach. The repair, manufacture and construction associated with the operation is taken care of in-house.
Billabong produce might not be a name you knew before, but if you enjoy the fabulous tomato based pasta sauces available from supermarkets nationally you can bet you've had a taste of Serge's Jerilderie.
Contact details
Billabong Products
0358 861306 (ph)
0358 861719 (fax)
rorato@billabongprod.com.au
