Smart50 rank: 18
Revenue: $3,815,417
Growth: 84.82%
Founders: Jan Vydra, 29, William Pham, 37
Head Office: Victoria
Employees: 30
Industry: Agriculture, forestry, fishing
Website: www.freshleaf.com.au
It’s always difficult to transition from one job to another, but Jan Vydra and William Pham made it even harder for themselves when moving from the corporate world to agriculture, an industry they knew absolutely nothing about.
After watching the rise of reality cooking shoes and the move towards home cooking the pair started Australian Fresh Leaf Herbs, a company dedicated to growing and distributing herbs to major retailers, independent supermarkets and restaurants.
“Whilst we made several mistakes by losing several basil crops and money along the way we learnt how to develop our own innovative supply chain model that has changed the industry,” Vydra said.
“We now support other growers nationally and our key stakeholders, including major retailers and independent supermarkets, appreciate our quality products.”
The company is now turning over $3 million, with 100,000 batches of herbs delivered every week.
The pair’s plan is to continue expanding, especially because the current trend towards cooking shows such as MasterChef has made more people interested in cooking at home.
“Our aim is for consumers to recognise our brand as so much more than a bunch of herbs,” Vydra said.
“We want to create a demand for our produce. We will continue marketing our herbs on a national level and target educated female between the ages of 25 to 45.
“We'll be rolling out an effective and creative marketing plan to do this over the coming months.
“To stay innovative in the market place we’re also continuously researching how we can further improve our farming practices.”
The pair is slowly gaining more control over the supply process, so that instead of the traditional method where crops are sent to market the company has entire control – from picking and packing the herbs to setting the price.
“We then use supply chain mechanisms to deliver quality herbs to the customer consistently, which allows us to compete, be profitable and ultimately deliver our brand and premium product to consumers,” Vydra said.
