Great Southern Groves was named Producer of the Year, as voted by Western Australian chefs, while Urban Forager won the People’s Choice Award for its flavour-packed chicken stock concentrate.
ED Pat Page with Producer of the Year winner Great Southern Groves co-owner Kristy Davies
“I never expected to win,” says Great Southern Groves co-owner Kristy Davies, who sees plenty of similarities between their award-winning extra virgin olive oil and Urban Forager’s celebrated stocks.
“Those that have won in the past have all been amazing products, but they are definitely the star of the dish. Whereas we are kind of unsung heroes of a dish. We’re in most recipes but if they put a dish on Insta, for example, it’s not very often that we get tagged. We just make a dish better.”
Lou Corteen, founder and owner of Urban Forager, was similarly taken aback by the award. “We’re really proud of our stock for lots of different reasons but it’s still a kind of boring staple in the kitchen when there are so many other exciting products in the market,” she says.
Home cooks clearly disagree, as they lap up Urban Forager’s organic stock concentrates, jams and preserves, as well as the natural stock concentrates made under sister brand The Natural Stock Co.
Focusing on flavour
Lou Corteen, founder and owner of Urban Forager the People’s Choice Award winner with her family
Inspired by her late grandmother, who made everything from scratch, Lou started selling homemade preserves through farmers markets where she soaked up the honest feedback before deciding to “have a crack at a proper business”.
Combining her science background with a passion for quality local ingredients, Lou figured out how to make a delicious vegetable stock shelf stable, before expanding into chicken and beef. By 2018, Urban Forager had picked up national distribution with Coles and Woolworths followed a few years later.
Quality wasn’t the only thing Lou refused to compromise on from the outset. “Every decision we make is made through the lens of sustainability, whether that’s environmental, social or economic sustainability,” she says.
“I worked as a biologist and I’m really passionate about the environment. When people choose our stock concentrate, I think of all the tetra packs and plastic pouches that don’t end up in landfill.”
Then there is the most important component. “Always number one is flavour; we’re making new products and it’s tricky because I just will not compromise,” she says with a laugh.
That focus on flavour makes a world of difference to consumers, judging not just by their People’s Choice Award but by the emails and messages – or “little love messages” as one of Lou’s chefs calls them – they receive almost every day.
“We get a lot from people with food sensitivity who can’t normally tolerate commercially made stock and to be able to use ours and give their food some flavour is life changing,” she says.
Winning over chefs
Great Southern Groves has been bringing flavour to dishes at some of our favourite restaurants for years, with chefs appreciating the aromatic EVOO produced from Tuscan varieties of olives grown near Mount Barker.
Aside from the quality of the produce, Kristy credits the award to the relationships the tiny team – who do everything from growing and harvesting to packaging and delivery – have built with clients.
“We text or message our chefs pretty much every week to say ‘how are you going, do you need anything’. People in hospitality are so busy that just having that little interaction or reminder really makes a difference,” she says.
“And we have an amazing delivery driver, Paul, who doesn’t just dump and run; he always builds the rapport. All the chefs have been congratulating him about the award on deliveries this week, which is so lovely.”
It’s not just chefs who love Great Southern Groves olive oil, though, with an increasing number of online sales, thanks to a grant from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD).
“The restaurant or hospitality industry was our bread and butter – or bread and olive oil – and we had some gourmet retailers in Perth,” Kristy says.
“Then we got an agrifood voucher from DPIRD to upgrade our website and I can’t tell you the difference it has made. Last financial year we had a 100 percent increase in online sales and this year we’ve already had another 100 percent increase.”
Having the support of the local hospitality industry fuels that demand. “People know that the oil that they are buying online or in the shops is the same that chefs in some of the best restaurants in Perth are using,” Kristy says.
And the Producer of the Year Award will only enhance that reputation.
Both awards have been supported by Buy West Eat Best since their inception. Runners-up for People’s Choice were Franklin & Clement’s chilli jam and Bluey Zarzov’s Hotsauce, while The Mushroom Guys and last year’s winner, La Delizia Latticini, were runners-up for Producer of the Year.
Celebrating our wonderful producers
“It is such a pleasure to see our local producers recognised for what they do in front of their peers,” says Buy West Eat Best program manager Melissa Worthington.
“When you’re toiling behind the scenes, it’s easy to lose sight of how important you are to the fabric of Western Australia’s food and drink industry. The WA Good Food Guide Awards celebrate that hard work and passion in style.”
Ms Worthington encouraged all Western Australians to get behind not just the deserving winners but all local producers.
“The care they have is evident in the quality of everything they produce. The biggest reward you could give them is to buy what they make and tell others how good it is,” she says.
Receiving accolades at such an important celebration of the local food and drink industry doesn’t hurt, either.
Asked what her late grandmother would say about her granddaughter collecting the People’s Choice Award, Lou doesn’t hesitate. “She’d probably say ‘that’s marvellous’!”
And she would undoubtedly agree that these unsung heroes were far from boring.
See the WA Good Food Guide website for a full list of this year’s award winners.
