Darren Thomas: Major jobs boost rises from the ashes

When it comes to resilience, Thursday will go down as one of the state’s proudest moments, says Darren Thomas.

Thursday was one of the proudest days of my life.

It was also one of the most humbling.

Standing outside our family business’s Dulwich headquarters and fronting the media, I had a strange sense of deja vu.

On January 4 last year I faced the same media pack having seen my world turned upside down.

Like many of my staff I had not slept the previous night.

I’d seen a great local factory, that had taken 20 years to grow and employed 1600 people, destroyed by fire in a matter of hours.

But our company made a firm commitment that morning.

Thomas Foods International chief executive Darren Thomas. Picture: AAP Image/ Morgan Sette

Like many South Australian businesses before us, and no doubt to follow, we backed ourselves and made a bold decision.

We resolved not to let this catastrophic event hold us down and to stand by our people.

We also called on the support of our staff, suppliers, customers and community.

On Thursday, I arrived early to work again having had no sleep.

But for a different reason.

I couldn’t wait to announce that we’d be making good on our promise.

Confirming our plans to build a new state-of-the-art meat-processing plant at Murray Bridge has been an empowering message 17 months in the making.

We began planning our recovery from day one of the fire. It hasn’t been an easy path to where we find ourselves today and there will be challenges ahead.

Attracting the much-needed workers to our industry will be one of them.

However, as I’ve seen first-hand during the recovery and rebuild planning process, a collaborative approach involving business, community and government can achieve great things.

The benefits of such an approach are not contained to the food sector. They flow through the broader economy, creating employment opportunities and even greater investment opportunities for the state.

The ability to overcome adversity and push on is not just an attribute of the great people I have around me at Thomas Foods International.

It’s also the very attributes I see in businesses right across SA — from farmers who are currently facing tough conditions on the land to exporters forging ahead on the global stage.

As a state we need to believe in ourselves if we are to continue to punch above our weight in national and international markets.

As a business leader and a large employer, I’m proud to be investing in our state’s future.

Darren Thomas is Thomas Foods International’s chief executive