If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to export to 48 countries around the world, Frosty Boy Australia’s (Frosty Boy) CEO Dirk Pretorius will tell you that it takes diligence, thorough research and automation of business practices to achieve this feat.
“The team at Frosty Boy has worked really hard to get where we are today. Through research and process automation, we’ve been able to remain competitive with local markets and abroad,” Pretorius (pictured right) said.
“Many Australian companies see labour as a major cost to running their business and often take this offshore, in order to compete. However, one of our key selling points is that our product is manufactured in Australia, ensuring safe to consume, tasty, versatile and high quality product.
“We’ve been able to keep costs down through automation. This does not mean less jobs, in fact, further down the line, for example in logistics, this creates more employment.”
Having streamlined Frosty Boy’s internal processes, Pretorius now wants to drive the discussion around keeping Australia competitive in international markets.
“Although there has been significant steps forward by the Australian Government, such as the advent of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA), there are still many issues Australian businesses face when competing with local markets abroad,” he said.
Mr Pretorius last week met with The Australian Minister for Trade and Investment, The Hon Steven Ciobo MP and the Federal Member for Forde Bert van Manen MP, to discuss the challenges faced by Australian food manufacturers when exporting products abroad.
“This meeting provided Frosty Boy with an opportunity to discuss the barriers we face and present issues the manufacturing industry faces as a whole. One of the main issues is still implementation of the Free Trade Agreements by local companies,” he said.
“The government is already working on this and I am hopeful that our concerns will be addressed in the near future.”
Frosty Boy currently manufactures the equivalent of two million serves of soft serve ice cream per day, with 75 per cent heading into export markets and has seen a 15 per cent year-on-year average increase in sales.
Frosty Boy’s target market includes retail businesses such as cafés, convenience stores, quick service restaurants and service stations, with millions of serves of product distributed each week to international clients.