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MEDIA REVIEWS...
taste of VICTORIA Magazine
November 2006
"Simply Tomatoes has won the 2006 Premier’s
Food Victoria Award for Innovation by using a
combination of canny business development
and outstanding packaging design for its
Simply Green Tomatoes antipasto.."
Premier of Victoria
August 2006
"I would like to congratulate Simply Tomatoes for winning the 2006 Premier's Food Victoria Award for Innovation."
MyBusiness Magazine
July 2006
"Just five years ago Marilyn Lanyon’s farm was facing a disastrous future, but with some inspired lateral thinking, she was able to convert a problem into an opportunity”
EPICURE- The Age
July 18th 2006
"Flavoursome and nutritious, Simply Tomatoes business has grown from being a local success to being sold in over 20 countries.”
ABC RURAL COUNTRY HOUR Radio Program
June 2006
"A humble tomato producer from Boort in central Victoria has value-added her tomatoes into a antipasto product and is selling it to 22 countries around the world.”
BUSH TELEGRAPH Radio Interview
June 2006
"Have you ever had a fantastic idea but weren't quite sure how to market it?"
TASTE OF VICTORIA Magazine
Issue 34 – Summer 2005 / 2006
"I had in mind something noticeably different from a jar, I wanted something that would really stand out on a shelf.”
ONE LOCAL PRODUCT, TWO NATIONAL AWARDS
by Hayley Moriellon - The Loddon Times, November 16, 2005
"Success has continued with her antipasto product winning two national awards".
FOOD FRENZY
The NewsLink’s Travel Magazine,
Sept / Oct 2005
" A new range of gourmet food products have landed at NewsLink’s Discover stores ".
SIMPLY GREEN TOMATOES
by Adeline Teoh - Dynamic Small Business, August 2005
Selling Simply Green Tomatoes to Italians is like selling ice to Eskimos.
When Marilyn Lanyon took a friend's advice and developed a simple antipasto
recipe using her own freshly grown tomatoes, little did she know that in a
few years she would have a fast-growing business exporting to 20 countries,
including the recipe's native Italy.
"Ninety-five percent of our business is from exports," states
Lanyon. "The other 5% is from domestic sales to about 100 stockists in
Australia."
The flavoursome tomato product sells to businesses such as
cafes, delicatessens and catering companies and has featured on notable
menus such as last year's Danish Royal Wedding banquet. Simply Green
Tomatoes started when Lanyon recognised the potential in her farm, bought
with her husband in 1978, beyond simply growing produce. From seed to
packet, all product is prepared by hand on Simply Green Tomatoes' premises
in Boort, Victoria and the company is 100% Australian owned. It takes three
days to process the fruit from vine to brine, starting with golf ball-sized
green tomatoes that are sliced and soaked in a mixture of extra virgin olive
oil containing vinegar and salt. Other ingredients include garlic and
oregano.
"If you keep it in its packet, the product has a shelf life of
24 months without refrigeration," explains Lanyon. "And because of the fresh
ingredients and the great packaging, the market loves it."
Following a sponsored trip to a trade show in Singapore four
years ago, Lanyon realised that the antipasto idea, which essentially began
as a "value-add" product to the farm's fresh produce, actually filled a gap
in the market. Simply Green Tomatoes opened its commercial kitchen not long
after.
"We opened our doors at the beginning of 2002 and it was about
mid-2002 that we filled our first international order," she recalls. "But I
didn't start off thinking that we should export, I was just concentrating on
getting the business started."
Not that Lanyon just got lucky. Through a combination of
thorough market research and help from Austrade, Simply Green Tomatoes
received the profile it needed to enter the marketplace. Lanyon's research
included identifying a niche in the market for Simply Green Tomatoes-she
found there was simply nothing like it.
"I noticed that no one else was doing what we were doing," she
says. "So we started exporting to Asia and that's how it took off."
Austrade's contribution came via their New Exporter Development
Program and Lanyon highly recommends that new businesses use the available
government resources for the initial boost. The program offers a range of
services to support small to medium businesses, including advice and
training as well as business introductions. Companies can also apply for
financial aid via Austrade market development grants.
"I've had so much help from all levels of government; federal,
state, right down to local government," she says. "Through the program we
were able to show our product at trade shows overseas and it has snowballed
from there.
"Having Austrade behind us made us a bit more confident," she
adds. "It was good for business because potential clients could see that we
were supported by the government and that made them see us as secure."
Conversely, Lanyon warns, it is important that you do your
research to ensure that the businesses that you're dealing with are stable.
Having been stung once, she's adamant that it won't happen again.
"I think the most important advice I can give is 'do your
groundwork'," she relays. "Go over there, see how their company is run and
then when you're satisfied you can start trading."
Lanyon credits her export sales advisor Greg Street (of company
SpecEx) with keeping her up to speed with the global marketplace, which she
admits she wouldn't be able to do alone while juggling the company
operations. And although she's still on a steep learning curve as a
businesswoman, this farmer's wife and mother of five has shown that she's
quick to acquire new skills to benefit the company. As a result of this
dynamic rise, the Simply Green Tomatoes brand has moved from strength to
strength, giving Lanyon momentum-and a profile that has already garnered
several accolades, including the Victorian Rural Women's Award in 2004,
which she fed straight back into the company.
"I took the bursary from the Rural Women's Award and went
overseas with Greg," she says. "We did some research and opened some
business connections and that allowed us to push the product into Europe."
Not bad for a small company that fluctuates between three to 22
employees with the seasons.
Next, Lanyon predicts a new product to sit beside her antipasto
creation and perhaps a different type of export-tourism.
"We've started seeing groups come through the region, maybe a
bus every couple of weeks," she observes. "The best thing is that because
everything we do is done on the premises, we can answer any questions that
people may have about the farm, the product and even the packaging. The
tourism side is definitely growing."
BOORT FEEDS ROYAL WEDDING
by Shaun Makepeace - The Advertiser, May 14, 2004
"Simply Green Tomatoes on Menu in Denmark"
MARILYN LANYON TOMATO GROWER, BOORT, VICTORIA
by Susan Duncan - Australian Women's Weekly May 2004
"Marilyn Lanyon, is building markets here and overseas for homegrown pickled green tomatoes".
GREEN REDS ADD FLAVOUR
by Margaret Johnson - The West Australian FRESH, February 12, 2004
"A NEW and delicious product has become available on the local market, called Simply Green Tomatoes".
PROCESSING TOMATO INDUSTRY SUCCESS STORIES
by Liz Mann - Tomato Topics, March 2004, Volume 13, No 1
"Congratulations must go to both Geraldine and Marilyn for helping raise the profile of the Australian Processing Tomato Industry".
GREEN DREAM FINALLY ON THE GRAPEVINE
by Susan Parsons - The Canberra Times, March 24, 2004 (Food and Wine)
"When an Italian friend hinted at the benefits of cooking with unripened field tomatoes, Marilyn Lanyon took notice. The clever marketing project has won her a Rural Women's Award".
WOMEN AWARDED
by Melinda Browning - The Advertiser, March 15, 2004
"Marilyn Lanyon runs a growing business in antipasto green tomatoes in Boort, and was recognized as the statewide winner of the rural women's award."
SIMPLY A WINNING PROJECT
by Ken Jenkins - The Loddon Times, March 17, 2004-04
"The green tomatoes developed into an antipasto type product are proving a tasty treat not only nationally but are also being exported overseas."
Tomato idea makes Marilyn the …….QUEEN OF GREEN
by Sandra Godwin - The Weekly Times, March 17, 2004 CountryLIVING
"The World is relishing a taste of Italy being spread from Boort."
SIMPLY GREEN TOMATO MAKING ITS WAY FROM AUSTRALIA TO ASIA
Retail Asia - December 2002 The Retail Business Magazine
"The green tomatoes are carefully hand-selected and, within the hour, begin their three-day process."
GREEN LIGHT
by Miranda Sharp - The Age, October 1, 2002
"Check out the purity of the ingredients list : tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, oregano, vinegar and salt."
WATCH THIS GREEN SPACE
by Donna Coutts - Hearald Sun, September 3, 2002
"It's an oft-told tale in Australian agriculture : through adversity to diversity."
LAND OF PLENTY - Epicure Escape
by Melinda Houston - The Age, August 13, 2002
"These little flavour bombs are like a hybrid between a really good olive and your favourite relish."
FAMILY TURNS ANGER INTO EXPORTS
by Katie Fisher - The Weekly Times, June 5, 2002
"Marilyn said the biggest challenge was the expense of producing the product because it is very labour intensive."
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