Innovating foodservice
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The Daily Fresh warehouse complex at Regents Park is state-of-the-art, servicing Greater Sydney and reaching as far as Tea Gardens, the Hunter Valley, the South Coast and ACT
Foodservice has come a long way since Manny Meletis entered the industry in 1984 when orders were written by hand and customers paid in cash and cheques.
“There were mistakes galore,” he says. “When we finally brought in a computer system, you had to do a backup at the end of the day and take the 15kg backup disc home with you. It was huge and probably didn’t have anywhere near the memory of a USB stick now.”
Manny joined Daily Fresh as Operations Manager, before buying a stake in the then-Marrickville-based business. “In the old days, you didn’t have general foodservice – there were the people that sold frozen goods, the people that sold dry goods, the chilled, the small goods, the seafood and the packaging,” Manny recalls. “Daily Fresh actually started as a fresh potato chip company – we had a big machine that would go through 20 tonnes of potatoes every night, cutting fresh chips that we sold in 9kg bags. But slowly we saw people were more interested in the convenience of frozen potato chips and we started diversifying as general foodservice became a type of business.”
A big vision
With a background in engineering, Manny looked at Daily Fresh with an eye for improvement and growth. “I’m always pulling things apart that aren’t working and asking, ‘What do we need to improve?’” he says.
“I wanted to expand the whole business, so brought on a new partner, and built a brand new warehouse in Regents Park that we’ve still got today. We changed what Daily Fresh was about – we wanted to go from being a local entity to participating in national contracts around the country.”
Sydney’s healthy eating revolution led to a significant change in Daily Fresh’s product range, with fewer deep fried goods and far more gourmet products. “I remember the evolution of the humble ham, cheese and tomato sandwich in the late 1990s,” Manny laughs.
“A supplier started a business in sundried tomatoes and I was thinking, ‘Who’s going to buy a tomato that’s been left in the sun?’ But I took on two boxes and talked to customers about it and before we knew it, we were selling sundried tomatoes by the pallet. Chargrilled eggplant and basil pesto followed soon after that, as people suddenly wanted more spectacular sandwiches.”
Sydney’s healthy eating revolution led to a significant change in Daily Fresh’s product range, with fewer deep fried goods and far more gourmet products.
The Daily Fresh warehouse features latest digital technology including digital scanning and voice picking to streamline foodservice delivery.
At the same time, tech innovations helped fuel efficiencies. “We’ve got a full digital solution to warehousing and distribution, with scanning, voice picking, optimised driver routes and sign on glass,” Manny says. “Now we serve the Sydney basin and as far as Tea Gardens, the Hunter Valley and the South Coast.”
But even as they’ve grown to the 130-strong team at Daily Fresh today, Manny says family values have never changed. “Once you get to a certain size, you have to have a structure in place so that everybody knows the chain of command,” he says. “We’ve instilled a culture that no-one’s alone, and that everyone is a valued part of the team. When we have meetings, everyone is encouraged to speak up, talk about issues and share what they think we should be doing differently. Everyone’s view is taken seriously.”
Power in Numbers
As a founding member of Countrywide, Manny understands the value of leveraging the national network. “We’ve got Countrywide members who look after our contracts for boutique QSRs in various states,” he says. “We recently merged with long-time Countrywide member Plateau Foods, which has been fantastic. Plateau had a great business in a sector we did not play in and with two warehouses in Sydney and Wyong it was an easy decision which fulfilled our growth aspirations and with the addition of the directors Julie Smith and Shaun Coutman who are now both directors of Daily Fresh Food Service gives us strength and knowledge to take Daily Fresh Food Service into the future and size does matter in the current business landscape.”
Manny now serves as a Countrywide board director, sharing his food service knowledge and vision with the rest of the industry. “There’s a lot of great things about Countrywide that we offer as a group and as individuals,” he says. “I think Countrywide is kicking goals, the board is very united about what we are trying to achieve and we’ve got a great leadership team in the office.”
Ultimately, as much as foodservice has changed over the decades, the level of service Countrywide members can offer their customers remains timeless. “The beauty of independent, family-owned foodservice businesses is that we can pivot and change procedures quickly, doing whatever we feel is necessary to keep our customers happy,” Manny says. “Foodservice keeps reinventing itself and our number one goal is to offer what our customers need at any point in time.”
Managing Director, Daily Fresh Food Service