Page 36 - Food & Drink Magazine March 2021

PACKAGING & LABELLING
More than willing and able
Able Foods launched in late 2020 to produce quality meals for people on the National Disability Insurance Scheme. It has recently launched a baked bean range with accessible packaging in Coles nationwide. Kim Berry talks to two of the co-founders about the special start-up.
TOP RIGHT: Ready and tasty, a sample of Able Foods’ ready meals range.
TOP: Pouch power for Baked Beans.
BELOW: Champion: From sporting highs to social purpose, Dylan Alcott launched Able Foods in 2020.
OLYMPIAN and tennis champion Dylan Alcott joined forces with school friends Spencer Ratliff and Patrick Liston to launch the profit-for- purpose start-up Able Foods. Its goal? To cater for people on the NDIS and to provide an inclusive, affordable, and tailored food service for the community.
It launched with 30 ready meals, remoulded texture modified meals, desserts, and snacks in accessible packaging with Braille stickers. Able’s new Baked Beans range also come in an easy open format.
QHow did Able Foods begin? We all have lived experiences with disability and understand the challenges people with disability can often face trying to access fresh and healthy food. This is where the
idea was born. We saw there was a lack of disability focused brands in Australia and we thought it was an important area that needed attention.
We also wanted to find a solution to the food access problem for people with disability and to build an inclusive company that not only offered fresh and healthy food, but one that champions and hires people with disability.
Q
For the Baked Beans we worked closely with manufacturer Flavour Makers. It is a Melbourne-based manufacturer that works on large-scale food development. It has been running for more than two decades and was a fantastic organisation to work alongside, even during the COVID-19 setbacks we all faced last year.
There are always challenges when launching a business. With our Baked Beans, we were in discussions with several different manufacturers but struggled to find a partner who shared our vision and passion. When we met with Flavour Makers it was clear we had found the perfect people and company for us.
One other minor hiccup was trying to launch our business during a global pandemic. We managed to do it successfully, but we did face issues trying to
source packaging plus working from home in Melbourne was at times challenging – but we did it.
Q
We have Braille stickers on our ready-made meals for customers who have low vision or are blind. We’re all about providing choice and including these stickers is such a simple way to make life easier for Australians who can read Braille. We don’t know of any other ready-made meal provider who has Braille stickers on their packaging, but we think that everyone should.
Our Baked Beans come in retort microwavable pouches. They’re easy to open and accessible for all Australians. We’re very proud to be innovating in the FMCG space and launching products that will be more convenient and more accessible for everyone.
Q
Always! We are currently searching for the next range of products to innovate and make more accessible. We want to develop products that make people’s lives easier and something that can be a huge success, like we think our beans will be. We’re also committed to hiring people with disability so as our business grows, we aim to hire more people with disability in all areas of the business. ✷
How do you produce
your products?
Tell us more about your
accessible packaging.
Are there areas you want
to improve?
36 | Food&Drink business | March 2021 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au