More than a supermarket: Woolies makes the most of its meat business

The supermarket giant, already a notable force in the business of supplying household shopping needs, including semi-prepared meals, has just branched into what is shaping up as a growth market for pre-cooked red meat lines to pubs, clubs and cafes.

The Ternary and Co business, launched last month, is serving up sous vide (vacuum packed and cooked) pork roasts, beef briskets and lamb shanks sourced by Woolworths' Greenstock red meat supply chain company.

Greenstock goes direct to livestock producers, feedlots and saleyards to fulfil specific customer requirements, including the needs of Woolies' 1001 supermarkets.

About seven per cent of Australia's beef and lamb production is handled by Greenstock to fill orders from Woolworths and related entities, including overseas buyers.

New customer Ternary and Co, is an offshoot of Woolworths' joint venture, PFD Food Services, one of Australia's largest food distributors to restaurants, cafes, fast food franchises, hotels, airlines, cruise ships and institutions.

The hospitality industry's well documented staff shortages and fast-rising business costs presented PFD with the chance to offer mainstream venues consistently high quality meat lines which enabled eateries to reduce food preparation times by two thirds.

"It's only early days, but we've had an extraordinary take-up Australia-wide," said PFD chief executive officer, Angus McPherson.

"Chefs and experienced kitchen staff aren't easy to find or retain.

"This sort of service is growing in popularity because it helps these venues work within their limitations and still present a quality finished product at the centre of the plate."

The Ternary initiative, which has a heavy emphasis on consistent and quality meat products, follows last year's launch of a PFD's premium grain-fed beef brand, Arlo, supplying high-end restaurants with prime quality steak cuts.

"Historically PFD enjoyed a strong reputation in seafood - our origins were at Melbourne fish markets - but we've seen great opportunities to grow a similar strength in the red meat space by making the most of our supplier connections," Mr McPherson said.

The Arlo brand has relied heavily on Greenstock's relationship with beef producers and an understanding of meat quality requirements which has evolved with some Woolworths suppliers over 40-plus years.

Greenstock established in 2021 specifically to fine tune those relationships and source quality meat lines for Woolworths shoppers every week.

It now has ties with about 100 feedlots and 2500 producers on 16-week supply contracts.

In an average week it buys 8500 cattle, 25,000 lambs and 14,000 pigs.

About 65 per cent of those carcases end up in supermarket meat cabinets as traditional cuts, or semi-prepared packs of marinated kebabs, stir-fry ingredients, meatballs, patties, sausages and more.

However, Greenstock's strategic sourcing and partnership general manager, Felicity Coventry, said increasingly there were opportunities to add more value with different market prospects, and in turn, make the most of the carcase to offset the cost of supplying consistent quality to shoppers.

"After fruit and veg, meat is the most important customer decision driver when shoppers are making a store choice for a major shop," said Ms Coventry.

"As a result, Woolworths and Greenstock need to work hard to ensure the supply chain is efficient from end-to-end to achieve the freshness, consistency and product quality that draws shoppers back each week."

About 35pc of the supply diverted to a host of non-retail destinations ranging from value-added convenience meals using trim for pre-cooked lasagne, to other cuts destined for the dine-in convenience meal segment, or product for Trenary and Co, Arlo and export markets.

"For every 15,000 cattle required to supply our customers with rump steak, we only need about 400 to service local demand for brisket, so we have to find alternatives for quite a lot of brisket which comes with all those carcases," Ms Coventry said.

Brisket was a favourite for South Korea and other Asian markets, and offal lines found good Asian demand, too, while the US was also an export destination for certain cuts.

"We're paying for those kilos - we want to make sure we can make full use of them and spread the benefits across our supply chain," she said.

It has been a busy couple of months for Ms Coventry who has spent much of that time on farms and feedlots, at saleyards and abattoirs, or at the recent Beef 2024 extravaganza, meeting many of Greenstock's suppliers, processors and customers for the first time.

She only began the Greenstock role in April having previously worked across various agricultural supply chain, procurement and operational positions with some of Australia's biggest agribusiness outfits.

Her zeal for the farm sector began almost 20 years ago on Elders' cattle, grain and wool risk management trading desks and in corporate farm account management roles in Adelaide, later moving to NSW to work with Westchester Group's InterAg Services at Moree, then grain marketer, Agfarm, and farm services group, Ruralco.

Most recently she was GrainCorp's transformation general manager and has also worked with business services giant, KPMG and served on CSIRO's agriculture and food advisory committee.

"Woolworths is very purpose driven - it relates to my values," she said.

"I'm impressed by Greenstock's focus on end to end excellence.

"And, conveniently, this job brings together my love of agribusiness and producers, which has me working with a lot of amazing people with deep experience across the meat industry."