Tomato Pioneer Wins Innovative Marketing Award
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Bundaberg vegetable grower Andrew Philip of SP Exports won the vegetable industry’s Innovative Marketing Award recently at the AUSVEG National Awards for Excellence Gala Dinner, following the success of the “drip-free” tomato in the Australian market.
The award, sponsored by the Brisbane Produce Market, was presented to Andrew Philip at a sold out Gala Dinner at Jupiters Hotel Casino on the Gold Coast in front of almost 400 industry leaders.
AUSVEG CEO, Richard Mulcahy, said that Mr Philip had achieved recent success with a revolutionary new field-grown tomato variety, called Intense, which has now become popular with fast food outlets such as McDonalds, KFC and Hungry Jacks and is also stocked by Coles.
“Mr Philip’s success with this relatively new tomato variety in Australia is to be commended and I wish to congratulate him on the sterling success his company SP Exports has had in the Australian market” Mr Mulcahy said.
“The Intense variety of tomato grown by Mr Philip is a great success story which other vegetable and potato growers in Australia can learn from. As a value-added product, it shows the benefits which can be enjoyed by innovative businesses in the horticulture industry if they are willing to push the boundaries and respond to consumer needs.”
Originally commercialised by Nunhems, the drip-free tomato is the world’s first full flesh and non-leaking tomato.
“This award recognises the commercial success of the drip-free tomato in Australia, but not only that, it serves to highlight the importance of key vegetable growing areas such as Bundaberg to the national food economy,” Mr Mulcahy said. |