Rare Foods Australia launches Ocean Cellared wines and expands abalone production

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA:  Rare Foods Australia, a company that specializes in sustainable seafood products, has announced its plans to diversify its revenue stream by launching a new line of Ocean Cellared wines.

The company has also reported a strong demand for its wild Greenlip abalone, which it claims is a world first innovation in the sustainable production of this highly sought-after delicacy.

According to Rob Jorden, the Chief Executive Officer of Rare Foods Australia, the company now produces about 20% of the world’s wild Greenlip abalone, which is accredited by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).

He said that a key benefit of their innovation is that they are not curtailed by quotas, and they can further scale up their production.

“Our sales and marketing team are developing strong demand through our Master Distributor strategy for wild Greenlip and our tiered-based abalone offerings. Master Distributors are customers who order bulk tonnage throughout the year.

Their demand is enhanced by our team who respectfully share with our Master Distributors the many wholesales enquiries we receive. This adds to our forward orders and confidence in ongoing demand for our products.

To date for FY24 we’ve achieved sales and have forward orders for approximately 83 tonnes of our tiered based abalone products. That figure represents 87% of the total tonnage sold in FY23,” Jorden said.

While building its core business, the company is also focused on diversifying, de-risking and continuously adding value. After extensive trials and research on methods to scale and grow, the company has finalised its detailed Ocean Cellared Business Plan, which has received the Board’s support.

“Lastly, we are continually evaluating how to scale and grow the business through acquisition. Over the past 12 months we’ve spent approximately $1.2 million in pursuit of this scaling and growth. This investment has been spent on commercial, legal, and financial due diligence on businesses and supply chains we could acquire, as well as strengthening our people capabilities to ensure we deliver on our potential value. When we have achieved anything binding, we will of course announce this to shareholders,” Jorden added.

The company’s Ocean Cellared products are wines that are aged or fermented underwater, creating unique flavours and textures. The company has secured the services of Simon Hanley, a highly reputed wine industry expert with a strong background in wine production and brand development, to lead its sales and marketing of its Ocean Cellared products.

“Our entry into Ocean Cellaring was through the cellaring of boutique wines on the ocean floor. During this process, the exterior of each bottle creates its own ‘Ocean Signature’ of natural marine growth such as coral and barnacles. We have been working with strategic partners Glenarty Road and Edwards to expand this offering.

We are currently in the process of harvesting FY23’s deployments which will provide us 2,300 bottles of product, and we’re working with both partners to plan and undertake FY24’s deployments. As we are dealing with relatively small volumes, we intend to move these through our retail and e-commerce channels over the festive period.”

The company’s ability to scale up the Ocean Cellared business is largely underpinned by the Joint Venture it announced on October 10 with Winereef International, a company that has a patented process to create wine underwater using a secondary fermentation process. Winereef produces more than 200,000 bottles of product sold in the European marketplace.

“Over the past couple of months, we have been finalising all the operational details, including wine selection, to begin our Winereef trial in early 2024. From that we plan to produce up to 13,000 bottles of pure and blended Winereef wines.”

The company has also received several additional requests for space on its ocean lease from local wine producers in the Margaret River region. The company is currently evaluating these and their potential in line with its sales and marketing strategy as well as current stock levels.

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