Cheers as giant drinks factory starts production at Ipswich

Suntory’s giant $400m drink manufacturing facility at Ipswich has opened with well-known brands such as V Energy now rolling off the production line.

Suntory Oceania's new Ipswich factory now open for business

Production has started at Suntory’s $400m drink manufacturing facility at Ipswich with well-known brands such as V Energy now rolling off the production line.

The launch marks a milestone in the Japanese drinks giant’s growth strategy, with its new $3 billion partnership, Suntory Oceania set to launch from mid-2025.

The 17-hectare site at Swanbank will serve as the new manufacturing and distribution hub for the company’s multi-beverage portfolio of over 40 market brands.

The site has the capacity to hold over 50,000 pallets of product, with a high-speed glass line and two canning lines that fill at an industry-leading speed of 180,000 cans per hour.

V cans coming off the production line at Suntory.

Australia’s number one energy drink V Energy was the first product off the line and by mid-2025, the facility will also produce Suntory’s ready-to-drink alcohol brands including - 196, Canadian Club and Dry, and Jim Beam and Cola.

Suntory beverage and food Oceania chief executive Darren Fullerton says the facility is the largest FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) investment in the country in the last decade and has created 160 new permanent roles.

Suntory Global Spirits Oceania managing director Mark Hill says the next phase of commissioning will see the manufacturing and distribution of Suntory’s alcohol portfolio.

“Our Queensland facility complements our global production footprint, which includes distilleries and bottling sites in North America, Europe, and Japan, and will expand our capability and capacity to deliver like never before,” Hill says.

Young challenges

Five-year-old Jonathan George has already faced more challenges than most of us will in a lifetime. Now, he’s asking Queenslanders to help other sick kids like him by supporting the Children’s Hospital Foundation’s Small Change Appeal at Woolworths.

Until October 8, Woolworths customers across Queensland and northern New South Wales can make a difference by purchasing a $2 wall token at serviced checkouts. Every dollar raised will go directly to supporting sick Queensland kids.

Diagnosed at just three days old with hypoplastic left heart syndrome – a rare heart condition where the left side of his heart is critically underdeveloped, making it unable to pump blood around the body correctly, Jonathan’s journey has been anything but easy.

Childrens’ Hospital Foundation CEO Lyndsey Rice.

By the time he was seven days old, Jonathan had already undergone his first open-heart surgery. For kids like Jonathan, going home is not the end of the story – it’s just the beginning of a long journey of treatment and hospital visits. Since 1986, Woolworths’ customers have helped raised more than $65 million for the Children’s Hospital Foundation, funding life changing services and equipment for sick kids. Children’s Hospital Foundation chief executive Lyndsey Rice says a $2 donation might seem small, but when it all comes together, it adds up to “something truly powerful.”

Rice says community support is vital for the work of the foundation, with last year’s Madd Charity Ball last year attracting 500 people and raising an incredible $200,000.

Big steak

Brisbane restaurateur John Gambaro hosted a bit of a soiree for journalists and other media types at this new Black Hide SteakHouse at Queen’s Wharf this week. Journos were impressed with the swish new decor at the 240-seat restaurant as well as the views from terrace level of the new $3.6bn casino complex. Gambaro tells your diarist the eatery draws inspiration from the Gambaro family’s other Brisbane restaurants.

John Gambaro at his new restaurant Black Hide Steak and Seafood in Queens Wharf.