The Flavourtech team accept their business of the year award at the Piccolo Family Farm in Griffith. Photo: Supplied.
Griffith technology manufacturer Flavourtech has been named Regional Business of the Year at the annual Riverina Murray Business Awards, putting it in the mix to win the top NSW business award at the statewide finals.
The news comes at an exciting time for the company, which is setting up a new pilot plant and offices in the Netherlands.
“The team was pleasantly surprised, but above all honoured and proud to have our efforts recognised,” husband and wife CEO and marketing manager Leon and Dendy Skaliotis said.
“Awards like this provide Flavourtech with further credibility as a government recognised and awarded organisation which helps our customers develop trust in doing business with us.
“We believe we won as we are leaders in our field, designing, developing, and manufacturing advanced processing and evaporation technologies for the food and beverage industry. Our staff work incredibly hard, and it was a privilege to attend the event and see those achievements acknowledged by Business NSW. We were in great company, with many outstanding businesses represented as worthy contenders.”
Flavourtech’s SCC100-W is used for small-scale wine dealcoholisation. Photo: Facebook.
It was in the late 1980s that Flavourtech pioneered a magical device known as the Spinning Cone Column – the first machine able to extract flavours and aromas from foods and beverages without damaging the quality or reducing the shelf life of a product. This led to partnerships with coffee producers, wineries and food manufacturers all over the world, which are able to ulitise Flavourtech’s skills and resources to refine and enhance what they sell.
They’re now expanding into a region appropriately called Foodvalley in the Netherlands, where around 1000 local and international food-related businesses have established a presence.
The Griffith company is setting up a new pilot plant and offices at the University of Wageningen.
“This places Flavourtech at one of the leading food and agricultural universities in the world alongside global companies, such as Unilever, Friesland Campina and Symrise,” Mr and Ms Skaliotis said.
“Additionally, the location is conducive to collaboration with potential customers from around Europe as it is so easy to travel there.”
Like most Riverina businesses, Flavourtech has been impacted by chronic skill shortages and has sometimes had to go overseas to recruit employees. For this reason, they’ve developed partnerships with local schools and NSW TAFE to teach young locals more about their industry and encourage them to consider apprenticeship opportunities. A number of school groups have done tours of their facilities this past year.
Griffith school student Emmanuel Austria was impressed by what he learned at Flavourtech after doing a tour earlier this year. Photo: Oliver Jacques.
“Flavourtech believes in the Grow Our Own model and we think it is important to maintain connections with local schools and encouraging access and maintain awareness of local career pathways. We feel this strategy will help to future proof Flavourtech against skill shortages but also strengthen our community ties, support diversity, and inspire the next generation of workers,” Mr and Ms Skaliotis said.
The Flavourtech team will head to Sydney for the Business NSW State Awards on Wednesday 29 October, where the company is a finalist in both the International Business and Large Business award categories.
