Concept Laboratories grows to $5m from start-up family business

Sunshine Coast cosmetics and cleaning products company has grown from a family start-up to a $5m manufacturing business. Here is how they did it.

Warana based company Concept Labs general manager Naomi Elliott can't keep up with demand for hand sanitiser. Picture: John McCutcheon

At the helm of Warana cosmetics and cleaning products company, Concept Laboratories, is the daughter of its founders, Naomi Elliot.

And the way she operates the company today reflects upon the catalyst for its very existence.

“If you see a gap in the market, find a way to fill it,” Ms Elliot said.

“That’s what Dad did as a salesman representing other people’s products back in Cairns in the 1990s when he was unable to provide stock to his customers.

Ms Elliot’s parents, Sue and Barry Jackson, originally paid another manufacturer to produce their specially-formulated cosmetic and cleaning products; suitable for schools, daycare centres and mining companies.

“Dad kept having to tell his customers he wouldn’t have supplies of certain products for months on end, so he went out and created them off his own back,” she said.

Concept Labs has grown from a family start-up to a $5m manufacturing business. Picture: John McCutcheon

Now, the Warana manufacturing plant produces its own skincare, cosmetics and cleaning lines, while also facilitating the production of separate brand portfolios as a contract manufacturer.

The company’s experience manufacturing hand sanitiser for more than 15 years paid off when supply exploded during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We manufactured 122 tonne of germ-buster hand sanitiser in May 2020, which is 217,000 units and three times the amount produced in the previous financial year,” Ms Elliot said.

“But we are lucky we have other products to rely on, as we were basically then locked out of that market come October when the Federal Government removed the import excise on these products, so the benefits were very short-lived.”

Such setbacks are expected in businesses of any size, and Ms Elliot said the company had spent decades building a competitive export customer-base.

Concept Laboratories won Sunshine Coast Business Awards in 2019.

“We took home two Sunshine Coast manufacturing and business export awards in 2019,” she said.

“We do 1 per cent of our trade on the Sunshine Coast itself, but we employ 24 local staff and utilise local materials.”

Ms Elliot said the Sunshine Coast Council’s new Manufacturing Excellence Forum had been an excellent way to connect with other local manufacturers.

“It is so useful to share stories and collaborate with other manufacturers in the region,” she said.

“We have gained so much from the friendliness of the Sunshine Coast’s businesses community and freight-wise, we have the same lead times as Brisbane, but we get to live here instead.”

She said the company’s “small enough to care, but large enough to deliver” balance had held them in good stead to maintain business longevity.

“We can work with start-ups who want to formulate their own lines or large multinationals who need to scale up fast,” she said.

“And because of our focus on our niche, we have much quicker turnaround and more affordable prices than larger outfits.”

The Sunshine Coast Daily will launch the Daily Incubator on August 27 in its first weekly print edition. The exciting, new initiative aims to showcase the best of business and attract investment to the region.

Originally published as Concept Laboratories grows to $5m from start-up family business