Spiral Foods, wrapped with Great Wrap

Founded in Melbourne in the 1970s, Spiral Foods was fueled by a desire to follow the macrobiotic way of life. Fast forward to today, and Spiral Foods is one of Australia’s leading suppliers and distributors of quality traditional foods with an emphasis on organic ingredients.

This national and trusted household brand is transitioning from traditional stretch wrap to Great Wrap to minimise its operational supply chain waste.

We caught up with their Marketing Director, Raphaelle Wilson, to hear how it’s going. 

We all have Spiral Foods in our pantries, but for those who aren’t familiar, can you tell us a little about the history of the company?

Spiral Foods: “Sure! We've been going for over 40 years now. We started importing traditional foods from Japan such as naturally fermented miso and sauces, noodles and sea vegetables following the Macrobiotic way of life. In the 70’s, macrobiotic foods were a niche market in Australia.

Now, we have products sold internationally, global brands, local suppliers and we do our own manufacturing of certain products. I guess we've become an omnichannel of sorts with manufacturing, import and export, distribution and wholesale.”

It’s so cool that the business has grown and evolved with the times. What are some of the major brands you have at the Spiral Foods Group?

Spiral Foods: “Bonsoy, our biggest and most recognised global brand turns 40 this year! The Bonsoy range includes plant-based milk and ready to drink sparkling coconut waters. 

We also have Casalare, which specialises in gluten-free pasta that we manufacture here in Victoria and Riverina Grove based in Griffith, which specialises in tomato-based pasta sauces and organic Australian olives. Spiral Foods is more of your international traditional foods, while Casalare and Riverina Grove are more Australian made brands, manufactured here using locally sourced ingredients where we can.”

We definitely recognise some of those brands! So, who do you supply your products to?

Spiral Foods: “We supply major supermarkets, IGAs, cafes and independent fruit and veg shops through to manufacturers and distributors.”

We’re so excited Spiral Foods is using Great Wrap! What was the reason behind the shift? 

Spiral Foods: “One of the biggest things we wanted to be sure of was that our pallet wrap didn't leave any of those microplastics behind. I mean, there's no point in going green if it's still going to leave plastic in the environment and still have horrible effects on the ecosystem. So, that was the biggest deciding factor for us when it came to choosing Great Wrap.

Using a product like Great Wrap just fits in with what we are trying to do at Spiral Foods. We offer a majority of certified organic quality products. We want our products to be as natural as possible and our packaging to be as sustainable as possible, so using a compostable pallet wrap is another piece of our puzzle.”

We love this! How have the team found working with Great Wrap as a product?

Spiral Foods: "So far, it's been great! We've been getting the guys in the warehouse used to it. I know a lot of the pallets are going out of Melbourne with Great Wrap's hand pallet wrap for now. Fingers crossed that by the end of the year, and when the machine pallet wrap comes out, we will roll it out to all of our locations.

We love what Great Wrap is doing. Pallet wrap has been such a sticking point for so many companies, so this is a fantastic solution to that problem."

What challenges do you face with sustainability in your supply chain?

Spiral Foods: "Price can be a challenge. In the grand scheme of things, we're not a big corporate company. Sometimes, you really want to be able to offer the most sustainable option, but unfortunately, it's not feasible because then you can price yourself out of the market.

And then, when we look at our waste, such as pallet wrap, that’s used across all industries. We can't move pallets up and down the highway without it. So that's been a hard one, to find a sustainable option that is durable and tough."

Yeah, planet-friendly options have to be accessible to be used in all businesses, no matter the size. How many pallets of product do you send out per year?

Spiral Foods: "We send out pallets of products both nationally and internationally. We send a lot — definitely in the tens of thousands each year. 

A strong and reliable pallet wrap is a non-negotiable, when dealing with full pallets of stock. Our food products have a lot of weight which need to be steady on the pallet when they are being moved around on forklifts and trucks."