Serendipitous product development combined with an agile innovation model helped Birch and Waite power through the past two years. We talk to the company’s Senior Brand Manager, Olajoké (Joké) Amosun, about the road towards Fine Food 2022.

Birch and Waite was founded in Australia over 30 years ago and is renowned for producing Australia’s first batch-crafted, fresh-chilled, Whole Egg Mayonnaise. The business now creates dozens of delicious mayonnaise products, dressings, relishes and sauces.

With two manufacturing facilities in Sydney, a full innovation team and a sales force spearheaded by ex-chefs, the company is passionate about its food service offering and meeting the needs of cooks and chefs throughout Australia.

While the past two years has presented challenges, the business was fortunate to have developed it’s On-The-Go range just prior to Covid.

“We had just launched On-The-Go when Covid restrictions hit,” said Senior Brand Manager, Olajoké Amosun, “so it was at the exact time our clients really needed premium single serve condiments. The switch from in-house dining to take-away meant chefs were looking for premium single serve products that would compliment their dishes,” she said.

Counter display boxes were developed and product development extended from sauces and relishes to dressings and sweet dessert sauces.

“This range worked really well for our customers as both standard inclusions to take-away orders, or self-serve add-ons,” said Olajoké. “It was a good feeling to be able to assist our commercial clients with a product they desperately needed,” she said.

While the range was launched during Covid, the business is looking forward to it being at highlight at Fine Food 2022. In addition, there will be some new products and innovations to be launched that are yet to be revealed.

“Our sales team is really looking forward to reconnecting with their customers at Fine Food and, in fact, I’ve never seen a team so eager and excited about a trade show,” said Olajoké. “Our team loves to connect with our customers and we are also looking forward to introducing the brand to the many new cafes and restaurants we are seeing enter the Australian market,” she said.

While chef and staff shortages are currently impacting the market, there’s never been more of a need to streamline processes in commercial kitchens and save time. Birch and Waite have seen an increased need for high quality sauces – especially sauces such as Japanese Style and Hollandaise which can be time consuming and create wastage.

“We love to present our sauces to traditional chefs who would normally create their own from scratch and who are always delighted to taste the quality of our fresh chilled sauces,” said Olajoké. “The difference is the quality of our fresh local ingredients and the small batch methods we continue to use in the manufacturing process,” she said.

The company’s innovation team keeps a keen eye on food trends and is currently seeing a move towards full flavoured comfort foods and hearty dipping sauces. Asian dressings continue to be popular and the brand is also experiencing more demand for high quality tomato sauces and relishes. Cafes and restaurants are also favouring local Australian ingredients with a story to tell.

Sustainability is also a major priority for Birch and Waite with the business continually seeking more recyclable packaging and the company is a member of the Australian Packaging Covenant Association.

Make sure you visit Birch and Waite at Fine Food Australia 2022 for their new product announcements and latest innovations.