Grant Paech, who made South Australia’s most famous jam, dies, age 74
HE used an accidentally brilliant batch of strawberry jam to begin an empire and let people pay to pick their own fruit. Beerenberg founder Grant Paech, who has died at 74, was a pioneer.
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STRAWBERRY fields forever live in the hearts of South Australian families, thanks to an accidentally brilliant pot of jam and a food pioneer behind the pick-your-own-fruit concept.
That pioneer, Beerenberg’s Grant Paech, died early on Monday, aged 74, after a lengthy struggle with a neurological illness.
Today, his family and friends are recalling stories about the man they describe as one of the best storytellers of all.
Mr Paech, creator of the South Australian household brand, Beerenberg, now an international company, was regarded as strong and formidable as a boss, “and as a parent”, but also a true character ever ready with a funny tale to tell.
“He was a lot of fun, and a bit of a ratbag,” says daughter Sally, who remembers his practical jokes as well as his stern side because “he cared about things being done right, particularly at work”.
The Paech family patriarch passed the reins of Beerenberg to his children, Robert (farm manager), Anthony (managing director), and Sally Paech (marketing manager) in 1998, but was active in the business until 2010.
Their funny storyteller dad’s own life is one of this state’s greatest tales of success.
He was the great-great grandson of Johann George Paech, a farmer and devout Lutheran who emigrated from Poland to Australia in 1838.
Johann was one of the first settlers founding the Adelaide Hills village they named Hahndorf.
The family connection to this hills community has never faltered, and today, the now-international Beerenberg company’s key base, 100ha of fields, kitchen and farmshop, remain entrenched in Hahndorf.
The family’s history has featured widely, and with affection, in many SA stories and in a charming family history book and cookbook, Berry Hill, Grant and Sally wrote together.
Grant Paech was first touched with the entrepreneurial bug at age 10, when he scooped precious change from sales at his little mushroom stall, directly across from where the Beerenberg shop and factory stand today.
He later studied at Roseworthy Agricultural College, and in 1963 joined his father in dairy farming. But the determined dad and son had very different ideas. His father saw farming as a way of life, says Sally. Grant loved farming as a business.
In 1964, Grant met Carol Lawler at a dance at Norwood Town Hall. They were married in 1966, and the following year Grant planted the first patch of strawberries next to their own Hahndorf home. He sold them in the best way he knew, from a roadside stall.
Two years later the patch spread to a field behind that house and those 7200 plants yielded luscious fruit that was a local hit. The family would sit at a table shaded by pine trees and pack strawberries into punnets.
The next year, a packing shed was built, then more strawberry blocks were planted.
Nailing that new packing shed together, people driving by would stop and ask to buy the produce. Grant realised the potential for a roadside shop.
It was in 1971, when Grant found himself with some extra jam strawberries. He asked his mum to make some strawberry jam for him, and she promptly handed Grant her stewing pan and the Green and Gold Cookery Book.
So, Grant made jam on his own electric stove. The next day, the batch of 12 jams with handwritten labels sold out in the packing shed.
Again, and most famously, Grant saw the opportunity, and the real success story began.
Finally, in 1974, Grant’s dairy cows and milk round were sold, and the proceeds went into fruit stalls in Adelaide’s Central Market, and the East End market. Grant was market salesman on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He took strawberries packed in punnets in cardboard trays of 20, loading the family station wagon at 3.30am, arriving at the market before dawn. Grant became known as The Strawberry King.
He sold strawberries, cream, fruit and vegetables bought from merchants in the market.
The strawberries were sold under the ‘Willow Island’ label after the little island in the
middle of the farm’s main dam, but the threat of legal action from an Australian manufacturer claiming rights to use the word Willow forced a rethink.
Beerenberg, which translates to “Berry Hill” became the new name.
In 1985, Carol pointed out a newspaper article reporting Premier John Bannon’s visit to Singapore.
Noticing that first class passengers on Qantas were served small jars of jam made in Scotland, Mr Bannon said it was a pity the airline did not use a good Australian jam.
In 1987 the Beerenberg mini jam-jar deal with Qantas was signed — and continues today.
A major deal for cottage packs supplied to a Japanese catering company followed, and today the company exports to 25 countries.
It’s a colourful history of “a true pioneer and innovator in the South Australian food industry” says son Anthony.
He said his dad’s passion for his family and the farm meant the business would be forever rooted in the rich Adelaide Hills, “on land which the Paech’s have held since 1840”.
Anthony believes his parents, who worked well together, created a family treasure.
His mother, Carol, 71, still works in the Beerenberg admin and finance.
“They started with nothing, and they never spent anything on themselves,” says Anthony. “Everything went back into the business.” He describes 30 years of retained business funds as a fantastic legacy.
It was mostly an all-work-little-play simple lifestyle for Grant and Carol, but Sally also remembers the scallywag practical jokes.
“He once got me to crawl under the table and tie my Uncle Bryant’s shoelaces together. When Uncle Bryant got up, he fell over, and dad thought it was hilarious.”
Anthony Paech says that as a young man his dad had a benign tumour removed from his brain. He recovered, only suffering difficulty with his balance “but as he got older he deteriorated mentally as well”.
Grant was admitted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital with pneumonia last Wednesday. He recovered somewhat but died at the St Paul’s nursing home at Hahndorf, at 2.30am Monday morning.
Grant Paech is survived by wife Carol, Anthony, Robert, Sally and six grandchildren.
The Paech family welcomes donations to the Neurosurgical Research Foundation in lieu of flowers
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