Adapting to changing consumer demands and creating close local business connections have been key to the success of Griffith prune business Naturally Dried Prunes. October being NSW Small Business Month, The Area News is exploring interesting success stories from some of Griffith's businesses moving with the rapidly changing times.
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Three years ago, Ann Furner and her husband Anthony Nehme decided they needed to differentiate their business from the crowd. They wanted to look at their prune farming business's overall carbon footprint and explore greener alternatives to meet the rapid changes in consumer demand.
"Consumers are looking for healthier and more environmentally friendly options," Ms Furner said.
"Anthony and I felt that the industry had quite a large carbon footprint.
"We wanted to get away from that and help reduce our overall emissions."
A number of hurdles had presented themselves over the 12 years the pair have been involved in prune farming that forced to consider alternatives. Having the capacity to dehydrate their own prune stock became a priority for example. Relying on contractor businesses to dry their prunes often meant much of what they produced each harvest rotted on the ground due to large waiting periods for processing.
This is where the idea for Naturally Dried Prunes was born. The pair decided to take the plunge and invest in new technology out of Switzerland that would allow them to take control of the processing needs of the business and keep their carbon impact and overheads minimal.
The Swiss technology utilizes the power of the sun's heat to dry the prunes over three days in tunnels four metres wide by 50 metres long. This sets Naturally Dried Prunes apart from other prune growers in the industry who rely on gas dehydration systems to dry their product.
"Installing this new drying system was a cheaper option to install and for us to run in the long term because there are no gas or electricity bills and much lower labour costs," Ms Furner explained.
But their innovation didn't stop there. The decided to add value to their product by coating their prunes in chocolate and researching compostable packaging to sell their products at markets and small businesses throughout the riverina.
"We use biodegradable packaging and we are beginning to phase out our old postage bags in favour of compostable alternatives too," Ms Furner explained.
Results of this risky endeavour have been 'incredible' said Ms Furner, even with COVID disrupting business for much of the year.
"COVID positioned us to refocus our customers on local and Australian made and in thinking about supporting Griffith small businesses," Ms Furner said.
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Kat is a former English teacher to international students and has taught all over the world. She is beginning a new career as a journalist with the Area News. Got something you want to chat about? She's all ears.
Kat is a former English teacher to international students and has taught all over the world. She is beginning a new career as a journalist with the Area News. Got something you want to chat about? She's all ears.
