Monday, 2 September 2024
We had a good roll up of thirty-seven (37) for this event which included: five new members John Canning, Michael Kraschnefski, Terry Maher, John Mostyn & Frank Santacaterina, & an old member Neville Sarquis unable to attend the event but joined us for lunch. Welcome John, Michael, Terry, John, Frank & Neville.
Unfortunately, I was unable to attend on this occasion as my wife was having knee joint replacement surgery in Brisbane at the time – All went well.
After checking in & loading the coach we set off for the first stop of the day at the “Lions Park Hodgson Vale” for morning tea/smoko.
As usual everyone chipped in & we still had too many biscuits left. We had 15-20mins spare, so Nick (our coach driver) volunteered to do a short depot tour of Premier Toowoomba yard & workshop, he gave a brief rundown of school buses, tour coaches, their depots in QLD & NSW. They are always looking for staff- Drivers, Mechanics etc. They are privately owned by Mr King & they are friends with Murrays Coaches, so they share depots in different areas.
New School Bus – $600K, Tour Coach – $1M. Nick has been with this bus company for 25 years & this was previously owned by the Stonestreet Family.
We then moved on to Scarecrow Industries Factory where we were met & welcomed by CEO Mark Adamson who provided us with an overview of the Group followed by a guided tour of the factory allowing us to interact with factory workers etc.
Following are the notes that Warwick Dingle put together for the benefit of our members who were unable to attend – The information was gleaned from Mark’s talk etc & also from the public record.
Mark Adamson is the CEO.
Just over a year after the first PopBox was sold in January 2023, the Toowoomba-based microwaveable popcorn brand has revealed it has landed a $5 million deal with Woolworths, with the boxes now popping into 1,000 Woolworths stores across the nation.
Approximately 1.75 million PopBoxes have been sold to date.
Marketed as ‘the good popcorn’, PopBox is palm oil-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan friendly, made from 100% Aussie-grown corn and comes in a recyclable box.
For the 2024 financial year, PopBox has made $6 million in estimated total retail sales through Woolworths and other stockists, eg IGA.
However, PopBox in-store sales in Woolworths accounted for approximately $5 million of that growth.
PopBox founder and CEO Mark Adamson told Smart Company the deal with Woolworths represented a great partnering opportunity for a startup product like PopBox.
“It gave the product an ability to be recognised from direct sales and when people tried it, they really liked it. So it was a fantastic opportunity,” he says.
“We were sending product and samples to any retail distribution channel that we thought would be interested and we were fortunate that we got an opportunity to get a hearing with Woolworths and the category manager.”
PopBox was created by Toowoomba-based regional snack food manufacturer Scarecrow Foods, of which Adamson is also the CEO and founder.
The product flavours include Sea Salt, Sweet & Salty, Lite Butter Flavour, Butter Flavour, Mega Butter Flavour and Caramel Crunch.
Adamson says Mega Butter is the favourite among customers, however his personal favourite is Caramel Crunch.
“The vented box (is) cool, fun and convenient. The venting actually stops the popcorn from sweating during the cooking process, which means the end product that you pull out of the microwave is hot, fresh, tasty and doesn’t have any of that grimy residue.
“Besides that, I think it’s as healthy as we could make it.
“Best of all, it’s Australian and made with Australian popcorn and it’s almost fully recyclable.”
As well as being in 1,000 Woolworths and Woolworths Metro stores nationally, PopBox is ranged by up to 800 independent stockists through their distributor routes.
The business has between 15 and 20 employees, including approximately five casual staff members.
Adamson describes the growth rate of the business as “very steep and very fast”.
“I think it’s largely because the people who try the product just love it, love the box and see the good value,” he says.
“It’s fun and it’s Australian. It virtually sells itself.”
As for the future of the brand, Adamson says the business has its eye on the Australian and New Zealand markets for the moment.
“We’ve still got plenty of scope for the Australian market in the short term. So, for the next 12 months, we’ll be certainly focusing on that,” he says.
They now have Coles on board as well.
“I can see the product making its way to New Zealand, probably hopefully within that timeframe as well.
On completion of our guided tour, we then travelled back to the Southern Hotel for lunch.
After lunch we acknowledged & celebrated birthdays falling in September in our usual manner (with a birthday cake etc.) Viz Brian Douglas, Noel Grant, Bryan Hunt, Pat O’Dea, Don Stansbie, Allan Stenzel, Ray Wells & Greg Whitley.
In closing, special thanks to those who contributed to making this another safe & enjoyable event/outing for all attendees, including:
- Peter Taylor – For organising this event with the assistance of Mark Adamson.
- Warwick Dingle – For overall coordination of this event along with ensuring all members were accounted for before the coach departed again after each stop.
- Mark Adamson – For his very interesting talk & guided tour.,
- Staff at the Southern Hotel – For our lunch.
- Bob Whittaker & Michael Bermingham – For being on duty as our trusty first aid officers.
- Peter Thompson – For his usual gig as coach doorman ensuring all members got on & off the coach safely at each stop.
- Michael Bourke & Russell Mauch – For looking after our finances & name badges, & Russell for receipting & banking of our surplus cash.
- Errol Chase, Owen Schulz & Warwick Dingle – For the great photos.
- Ron Lewis, Lindsay Reis & Eric Canning – For looking after our hydration & hygiene needs w/- bottled water & hand wash respectively, along w/- loading & unloading of the coach, as required.
- Jan Neal – For making our birthday cake.
- Nick Peters – For responding to a late call to carry out a tour of Premiers’ Depot along w/- transporting us to & from Scarecrow Industries Factory, safely.
Dick Neal
7 September 2024
Mark Adamson w/- his dogs below
