Forage & Feast plan $5 million food production kitchen at Brown Hill Creek
A DERELICT property in Adelaide’s foothills will be transformed into a gourmet food production site under a $5 million plan to redevelop the 62ha area.
A DERELICT Brown Hill Creek property will be transformed into a gourmet food production site under a $5 million plan to redevelop the 62ha area.
Forage & Feast director Kelly Magor will move her business from her North Adelaide home after Mitcham Council approved the first stage of the project a fortnight ago.
The plan includes a 40sq m commercial kitchen and a cool room, which Ms Magor hopes to work from by the end of the year.
Forage & Feast’s range includes fruit pastes, marmalades, chutneys, oils, quinces, relishes and vinegars, stocked in supermarkets such as Frewville, Pasadena and Norwood Foodlands and the Wild at Hart markets in Port Adelaide.
Ms Magor said the move would allow her to expand her brand.
“(It) will allow me to do much bigger batches than what I can do on a stove top,” Ms Magor said.
“We are always looking at developing the range further so we can occupy and have a better retail presence as well.”
Ms Magor and husband Tobias Wallace bought the property — which was infested with blackberry, Scotch thistle and wild olive weeds — in 2013 and have since cleared more than 15ha of the area.
The property has lofty views of Adelaide, various native animals, a creek and five waterfalls.
“There are existing orchard trees on the property at the moment and we do source a portion of the Forage & Feast produce on the property already,” Ms Magor said.
“But there are also paddocks which have been neglected over the years so we will rehabilitate all that as well.
“We are working on our replanting strategies now, so we have rye seeds down to prevent soil erosion.”
The couple plan to build their family home on the site, which would also house a paddock-to-plate style cooking school, which they hope to open in 2017.
Ms Magor expected the cooking school to be popular tourist destination within 10km of the city.
“The location is a huge competitive advantage to us, particularly for our core target market which will be overseas and interstate guests in Adelaide,” Ms Magor said.
“It is easy for them to get here.
“You can even get a really cost effective cab ride from the city.”