Star opportunity to put Darling Downs on the world stage

THE opportunity for Darling Downs producers to supply into Star Entertainment Group’s Queens Wharf development will highlight the region on a world stage

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THE opportunity for Darling Downs producers to supply into Star Entertainment Group's Queens Wharf development will highlight the region on a world stage, according to Food Leaders Australia general manager Bruce McConnel.

With an extra 1.39 million tourists projected to visit southeast Queensland off the back of the Queens Wharf development and an increase in capacity at Brisbane Airport thanks to an extra runway, Food Leaders Australia and Star Entertainment Group believe now is the time for producers to prepare for the mammoth increase in demand.

Speaking at a meeting of 19 local producers with Star Entertainment Group representatives and FLA yesterday, Mr McConnel said FLA was "very excited" to bring the Star group to Toowoomba.

"We think it's vitally important that Darling Downs food producers are given the opportunity to supply into that market," he said.

Mr McConnel said it was important to work through the details and steps that needed to be taken to capture the opportunity.

"Because many of these businesses will need to make large investments in processing capability and capacity to capture the size of the opportunity that will be made available," he said.

"It's going to highlight our region on a world stage. More importantly (the development) is going to give a bedrock demand for a product to allow investment in food processing that will then allow them to continue to grow and have profitability to access global markets."

Star Entertainment Group managing director of Queensland Geoff Hogg said yesterday's meeting was to make sure producers understood the size and scale of the opportunity before them.

"In this region we have some amazingly good suppliers. We know that and that's why we want to continue to build our partnerships with them, with a direct link or through our wholesalers," he said.

Originally published as Star opportunity to put Darling Downs on the world stage