Australia’s first purpose-built food and beverage manufacturing precinct is closer to becoming a reality, after the appointment of its CEO.
As preparations are finalised for the multimillion-dollar development on the Sunshine Coast, Turbine has announced the arrival of experienced consumer goods CEO Andrew Eves-Brown.
Mr Eves-Brown has more than 20 years of consumer goods experience across general management, supply chain and operations.
He most recently held the position of head of economic development at the Sunshine Coast Council, where he helped shape the future of the region through the Regional Economic Development Strategy review, supported the Sunshine Coast through the post-COVID recovery and was a strong supporter of the Sunshine Coast Biosphere, championing how the UNESCO sustainability goals could be embedded in our community and lifestyle.
“The Sunshine Coast has so much potential in terms of our food and beverage offering, and Turbine will turbocharge their growth,” he said via a Turbine media release.
“When complete, the Turbine Precinct will be instrumental in removing many of the barriers faced by our small and medium businesses, helping them to grow and scale through shared infrastructure and manufacturing.
“In my current role, I have focused on building collaboration between industry and within council, because together we are so much stronger.
“Joining Turbine at a time when the project is about to get underway is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as the precinct is set to become one of the most important infrastructure assets in our region, contributing significantly to our GRP.
“This project will create something that is truly innovative in Australia and I am delighted to be able to use my extensive background in food innovation and manufacturing to lead this project through to completion over the next few years.”
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In 2021, Turbine was successful in securing $8.78 million in Federal Government funding and when complete, the precinct will house manufacturing services, a research and development facility, warehousing and logistics, an expertise hub and an industry-specific training facility, all of which are aimed at helping local food and beverage business scale up and develop the capability to expand into larger markets nationally and internationally.
Turbine director and Food and Agriculture Network chair Jacqui Price was delighted to welcome Mr Eves-Brown to the CEO role.
“As we start to finalise the next stages of the project, it was important for us to secure the talents of an experienced CEO, who not only understood food and drink manufacturing but who understood the people and businesses who make up this ecosystem and Andrew fitted the bill perfectly,” she said.
“In his role as CEO at (coconut products creator) COYO and before that as COO at (herbs business) Gourmet Garden, Andrew was instrumental in the creation of FAN and there is probably no one that understands our industry better.
“As CEO of COYO, Andrew drove the strategy that established their products as a premium brand and saw the company more than quadruple in volume during his three-and-a-half-year tenure.
“Prior to COYO, he held the role of COO at Gourmet Garden for 11 years, helping grow the business from $20m to $100m prior to the company selling to McCormick herbs and spices.
“It is this business pedigree coupled with his commitment to collaboration that makes Andrew the perfect choice to lead Turbine into the next phase and Turbine’s board are delighted Andrew will be leading the project.”
