A family-owned farming business working with Woolworths since 1974 – Australian Strawberry Distributors – has been named Woolworths Fruit and Veg Trade Partner of the Year.
Last week, Woolworths hosted its annual awards ceremony to celebrate the achievement and contributions of its many trade partners who work closely with Woolworths year-round to enhance the customer shopping experience and deliver innovation in their fields.
Australian Strawberry Distributors, who has farms across Victoria and Queensland, was recognised for its commitment to innovation, quality, and collaboration.
Australian Strawberry Distributors has been a leader in adopting innovative growing techniques like protective cropping. The dedication to trialing new strawberry varieties ensures a consistently high-quality product for Woolworths customers year-round, while also improving the reliability of supply.
“It’s fantastic to see Australian Strawberry Distributors, a valued partner of over 50 years, receive this well-deserved recognition,” says Woolworths Chief Commercial Officer Paul Harker.
“Australian Strawberry Distributors are a proud and passionate family-run business, and they pride themselves on producing quality strawberries, and being incredibly dependable partners.
“Their dedication to our shared customers is truly commendable. They embody what it means to be a true partner, working closely with us to understand our customers and innovate within the category. This collaborative approach has been instrumental in bringing exciting new fresh produce varieties to market.”
Australian Strawberry Distributors Managing Director Jim Ripepi said: “We were surprised to be nominated and surprised to win it in the end. A big thank you to the family back home, who are behind all the hard work. We’ve been a supplier of Woolworths for many years and never thought we’d get up here, but we finally did. It’s unbelievable.
“We work very closely with Woolworths and have done for a long time. They’re a great trading partner of ours and that’s based on a lot of trust, from both sides. We’re proud to be a supplier of Woolworths.”
Woolworths also recognised Hilton Foods as the Meat Trade Partner of the Year. Hilton Foods is the strategic secondary processing partner of Woolworths’ red meat business Greenstock. Hilton operates facilities in Brisbane, Melbourne and Bunbury which are dedicated to processing high-quality fresh meat for Woolworths customers nationally.
Hilton’s vision and partnership have been instrumental in driving process improvements and innovation within the meat category. This includes producing Woolworths’ extremely popular new range of delicious and affordable burger patties, and improving the sustainability of packaging; notably developing award-winning, fully kerbside recyclable meat trays that have already eliminated over 3,000 tons of virgin plastic from the supply chain.
The Woolworths Trade Partner of the Year Awards recognised partners across 12 categories:
- Overall Trade Partner of the Year: Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
- Account Manager of the Year: Amanda Barnes – MCo Beauty
- Better Tomorrow Award: Baiada
- Chilled & Bakery Trade Partner of the Year: True Foods
- Everyday Needs Trade Partner of the Year: Unilever
- Fruit & Veg Trade Partner of the Year: Australian Strawberry Distributors
- Grocery Food Trade Partner of the Year: Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
- Meat & Seafood Trade Partner of the Year: Hilton Foods
- Merchandising Team of the Year: Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
- New Product Launch of the Year: Mr Beast Feastables
- Small Trade Partner of the Year: Hismile
- Woolworths Category Manager of the Year: Matthew Teggins – Drinks.
Woolworths Meat Trade Partner of the Year: Hilton Foods.
