A South Australia-based yoghurt maker is seeking to crack the Asian market with its premium dairy products and packaging to match.
The Yoghurt Shop products blend traditionally made Greek yoghurt with Australian fruit, nut and gourmet products, and produces more than 30 variations of retail yoghurt and 10 flavours of frozen yoghurt at its factory between the Barossa Valley and the South Australian capital Adelaide.
Marketing manager Jarrad Hrotek said the original concept for its packaging labels and cartons was designed by Deb Carson.
Hrotek himself took over the graphic design late last year to modernise it while keeping to the company’s roots.
“We get our labels printed through PackCreations and our boxes from Corrugated Cartons Australia (CCP).
Humble beginnings
The Yoghurt Shop started at the Adelaide Central Market in 2003 and grew to eight outlets before shifting its focus to manufacturing packaged products for the national market.
Last year it began exporting its single-serve packaged products to Brunei where it is sold in five retail outlets. In April this year it also started selling its products through a distributor in Thailand.
Working closely with one of the largest food retailers in Hong Kong and Singapore, Dairy Farm International Holdings, The Yoghurt Shop began trialling its products at the beginning of this year in one outlet in Hong Kong.
Following the trial, the yoghurts will be stocked in 50 Oliver’s and Marketplace by Jason supermarkets from next month.
Managing director Simon Reynolds said there were plans to “almost triple” the company’s sales in Asia from three per cent to eight per cent of its business within 12 months, and expand across Southeast Asia by 2022.
Reynolds said he was also looking at exporting to the UAE and Qatar in the future and hoped exports could account for 50 per cent of total sales within five years.