Brownes Dairy lays claim to the title of Australia’s oldest dairy, established in 1886 and soon to celebrate its 140-year anniversary.
It is a household name for fresh milk in Western Australia, and also sells its dairy products including yoghurts, creams, flavoured milks and cheeses to the rest of the country via supermarkets Coles, Woolworths and IGA.
“We also have some presence with our yoghurts and creams in overseas markets such as Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia,” Brownes Dairy Marketing GM Nicole Ohm told FoodNavigator-Asia.
“One of the categories we believe has the greatest export potential though is cheeses, and we have specialised products targeted at both adults and children.
“For the kids, we have a range of cheese lollipops in flavours such as vanilla and strawberry – Australian children really enjoy these as a quick protein snack, and parents find them very convenient to pop into lunchboxes.
“For adults, we have a range of cheddar cheeses that we have developed an expertise in – all our cheddar cheese blocks are aged low and slow for 24 months to the point where one can really taste the crystals of flavour in these, which really helps us stand apart from others.
“We have also innovated within this traditional category by infusing flavours to create a unique range – so far we have green pepper, smoky red and pickled onion, all of which are completely new to the Asian market.”
Ohm also believes that current consumer demand for increased protein will greatly help cheese sales.
“Five years ago a lot of discussion about the dairy sector was plant-based dairy, but today the pendulum has swung back to conventional dairy and it is all about protein,” she said.
“Cheeses are naturally concentrated with a lot of protein, and its format tends to be more convenient for consumption and bringing around, so it is a good choice for anyone looking for a protein boost.
“All of our products are clean label and minimally processed, which also falls in line with the current demand for health and wellness products.”
More innovations
Brownes also sees probiotic-enriched products and ready-to-drink as two major categories poised for growth within the dairy sector.
“All yoghurts contain live cultures, but not all contain probiotics, and probiotics are what more and more consumers today are interested in,” she added.
“We have also developed a specific range of probiotic yoghurts to cater for adults and a different range of yoghurt pouches with prebiotics and probiotics for children.
“Another big theme today is RTD drinks, and we also wanted to ensure we were on-trend here hence developed our sub-brand Hunt and Brew, which is a range of single-origin cold brew coffee with fresh milk.
“This has become a big favourite with millennial consumers and coffee lovers, so we plan to bring this to Singapore and Malaysia very soon as well.”
No changes to operations
The Australian dairy sector was rocked earlier this year by the news that Brownes, which is actually owned by Zhiran, had been put up for sale.
This was due to an earlier A$200mn (US$128.2mn) loan that Zhiran had taken from Chinese dairy major Mengniu, which called in the loan this year.
Legal firm McGrathNicol had been appointed to manage the sale, and representative Keith Crawford stated via Financial Review that there would be ‘no change’ to the firm’s day-to-day operations despite these proceedings.
