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Bounce Foods, an Australian pioneer in the protein bar and ‘energy ball’ market, has fallen into voluntary administration, owing to significant debts from an unsuccessful foray into the American market.

Documents published by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) show Natural High Co Pty Ltd, trading as Bounce Foods, has appointed John McInerney and Philip Campbell-Wilson of Grant Thornton as joint administrators.

Speaking to SmartCompany on Tuesday, McInerney said the administrators have launched an urgent expression of interest campaign, in the hopes of finding a buyer to take over the business and continue trading the two-decade-old Bounce Foods brand.

While the Bounce Foods online store remains online at time of writing, and its products remain stocked in supermarkets nationwide, McInerney confirmed all staff have been stood down through the administration process.

“While the management team are staying on to support the voluntary administration process, due to limited available cashflow, all staff contracts were terminated on the date of the Administrator’s appointment,” he said.

What happened to Bounce Foods?

Founded in 2004 by Bondi husband-and-wife duo Andrew and Paula Hannagan, Bounce Foods was among the first Australian companies to bring high-end protein snacks, geared towards health and fitness aficionados, to the local market.

According to the couple’s website, Paula was inspired by the fitness-focused snacks she discovered on a trip to New York City.

She worked with Andrew to find a US manufacturer to develop products for the Australian market, with the pair initially marketing the brand’s protein balls to health food shops, juice bars and gyms.

The brand grew onshore as local appetite for protein snacks increased.

The Hannagans relocated from Australia to Oregon to explore an expansion into the US market itself in 2014.

That move proved too ambitious, Andrew Hannagan wrote on LinkedIn, given the “mature and well established” competition abroad, and the way Bounce Foods “completely underestimated” the challenges of raising capital abroad.

McInerney said the attempted US expansion cost $6 million, leaving a “heavy debt burden” on the business, which has limited Bounce Foods’ ability to access working capital for its domestic operations.

Despite the setback, Bounce Foods transitioned to local manufacturing after retreating from the US market, and has secured distribution in Woolworths and Coles, alongside independent grocers and convenience stores.

Recent partnerships include a collaboration with major Australian frozen treats brand Weis, now owned by Unilever.

SmartCompany understands the administrators are confident in the strength of the brand and its underlying revenue performance, despite the debt burden carried by the business.

Regulatory concerns have been raised over Coles’ plan to purchase two milk processing plants in Victoria and NSW from Canadian dairy company Saputo.

Should Coles’ bid succeed, it will be the first time a supermarket will own and operate its own milk processing facilities.

The ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Competition) and several industry players said the move would result in a major structural shift that could substantially lessen competition and lower prices for dairy farmers. 

According to the consumer watchdog, it is closely considering whether the acquisition would allow Coles to influence the market in a way that was not possible as a retailer and purchaser of dairy products.

“For NSW dairy farmers, concerns have been raised that this acquisition may change Saputo’s incentives to continue acquiring raw milk in NSW,” said Mick Keogh, deputy chair of ACCC. 

He added that industry participants had raised concerns that the acquisition would result in Coles’ consolidation of its private-label milk production and increase its bargaining power in negotiations with dairy processors and wholesalers.

NSW and Victorian farmers sell raw milk to the supermarket giant, which processes the product at the two Saputo plants.

“If Saputo does exit NSW as a result of the acquisition, this would leave limited competition in regions of NSW, which could result in farmers receiving lower prices for their raw milk,” remarked Keogh.

Coles CEO Lea Weckert said the company doesn’t see any lessening of competition, noting that the company already acquires 80 per cent of the volumes at the facilities and will provide milk processing services to Saputo Dairy under an arrangement. 

“We remain confident that any outstanding concerns can be addressed so that the proposed transaction can proceed to completion,” she concluded.

L’Oreal has named social media personality Kendall Jenner a global ambassador as part of its strategy to improve the brand’s image. 

Kendall Jenner will be the face of L’Oreal Paris’ beauty campaigns beginning in September.

Born in Los Angeles in 1995, Jenner has become one of the world’s most recognised models and one of the world’s most influential women since 2007, together with her sisters. 

“At any other time, Kendall Jenner might have been as successful as she is now, but her worth and her choices and her image might have been defined or even controlled by others. But nobody defines Kendall Jenner but Kendall Jenner,” said Delphine Viguier-Hovasse, L’Oréal Paris global president.

“She is the embodiment of everything Gen-Z stands for, owning her image, proudly growing in her self-worth, and inspiring others to do the same.”

According to L’Oreal, Jenner is an example of solidarity and sisterhood, which matches the image it is seeking.

The 27-year-old model will reportedly front future advertisements for items including the Infallible Matte Resistance Lipstick and the Panorama Mascara, targeting young customers. 

These days, Thankyou Group managing director and co-founder Daniel Flynn juggles his time between his home city of Sunshine Coast and Melbourne, where Thankyou’s first retail store is based.

In between the travelling, the chief of the social enterprise that donates profits to poverty-eradicating projects is preparing to take the group’s products to the world.

It’s a far cry from where the brand was about five years ago, when Flynn wasn’t sure it had a future.

“We felt like we could see the end of Thankyou,” he said. “We felt like the entire model needs saving now ... The Thankyou we were building was becoming this sort of Death Star.”

In early 2018, the Thankyou team was coming off the high of Flynn’s interview with Barack Obama, during which the former US president encouraged the co-founder to take the brand to global markets.

But the not-for-profit was buckling under the strain of juggling various product categories, from nappies to muesli bars to water to body wash, and a middling e-commerce business that wasn’t very profitable. The team had spread itself too thin; in its bid to make sustainable products, Flynn had to face the reality that Thankyou was not built as a sustainable business.

He created a slide deck and named it “Project Salvation”, an internal restructuring program that ended up lasting for four years. The business was “reimagined” from the inside out: Flynn stumbled across and seized upon an anti-burnout principle that recommended focusing on the most crucial 5 per cent of work – “the bit that only you can do, the thing that you’re born for”.

Thankyou’s crucial 5 per cent was its mission to eradicate poverty, the funds it donated and the impact that has, and the enterprise’s storytelling. Much of the other 95 per cent comprised operational logistics such as retail management, supply chain procurement, e-commerce and other support functions that could be outsourced as partnerships with organisations that specialised in those areas.

So Thankyou’s team of 60 workers was stripped down to 18. Thankyou formed partnerships with creative agencies and innovation houses, such as Marks Design, to help with packaging; e-commerce platform Pattern to power its online business; and Pave to help manage sales and distribution to retailers. Thankyou negotiates a custom rate with these partners that allows Flynn’s group to provide services in a commercially viable way while ensuring as many dollars as possible (more than $18 million so far) go towards their impact partners.

“We were building in the old way, trying to do it all ourselves,” Flynn said. “On paper, we thought it wouldn’t be as profitable ... but the way it’s currently being designed, our margins are already better from day one than they were back in 2018.”

Along the way, Flynn and his leadership team made other significant and often eyebrow-raising brand decisions. Thankyou had already pulled its food range (cereals and snack foods) in December 2017 with an intention to focus on its nappy business. But that didn’t end up working out either, and in mid-2021 nappy production ceased.

“Unfortunately, we ended up losing in nappies, we couldn’t maintain market share,” Flynn said. “The biggest brand and the No.2 brand started doing 50 per cent discounts, and I think one of them went from 17 weeks on promotion to 33 weeks ... that’s all normal competition stuff that we’re facing on every front.”

Additionally, the environmental footprint of Thankyou’s single-use plastic bottled water – its signature and founding item – was becoming harder to justify. In May, the group axed its most iconic, recognisable product, a decision Flynn revealed was made as far back as 2018. “It wasn’t representing the future of the brand,” he said. “We didn’t want to greenwash, so we exited the category.”

The brand embarked on a two-year redesign and relaunch of its core range, which now focuses on personal care products (body wash, shampoo, conditioner, soap, hand wash, deodorant), home cleaning essentials (hospital-grade cleaner), hand sanitiser, and baby wipes.

Not that anyone really knew: amid all the internal restructuring and rebranding, Thankyou dialled down its digital presence. “We went quiet on social for about a year and a half ... It was just because we’ve got to get the insides right,” said Flynn.

“Now we’re a lot louder, and we’re promoting a lot more, but it’s because we feel like the foundation’s strong.”

The relaunched range is accompanied by Thankyou’s new catchcry “consumerism reimagined”. Yet the principle is something of a contradiction: designed as an “affordable premium” product with design inspiration from both Japanese and Scandinavian minimalism, some of Thankyou’s new pieces – such as its refillable “forever” bottles – are designed to avoid overconsumption, not increase it.

Flynn acknowledged this sales model seems a little counterintuitive for a business that needs to sell as many units as possible to make the profits needed to achieve its mission of eradicating poverty.

“I heard a stat the other day saying that 60 per cent of consumers are no longer brand loyal, so brand loyalty is going down. But at Thankyou, we need it to stay or go up,” he said. “We hope the trifecta, from design to affordability to purpose, creates a really loyal consumer and, for us, the end of extreme poverty.”

After so many years of setbacks and pivots, Thankyou Group aims to be back on consumers’ radar and this time is determined to stay. The brand has made more changes over the past month: its three-month pop-up store opened on June 30, and last Tuesday marked the relaunch of its online store, which had shut in 2020 – just before the pandemic hit – to focus on higher margin retail sales.

But Flynn said he and his team have learnt from their mistakes. Rather than creating a huge fuss about launching into a new market and giving competitors a heads-up, the new strategy is to show up on shelves unannounced. It seems the demand is there: major retailers in Europe, the US and Asia have reached out expressing interest in stocking Thankyou products, Flynn said.

That’s just as well, because Thankyou’s mission is more urgent than ever. The pandemic, which halted economies and upended global supply chains, also served as the “biggest setback to global poverty in decades”, according to the World Bank.

“It’s going backwards,” said Flynn. “We really want to help consumers to make that global impact as global citizens.”

Instant delivery service Milkrun has launched in New Zealand, initially delivering groceries in Wellington and central Auckland suburbs.

The service will be extended to other parts of New Zealand in the coming months. Woolworths Group acquired the collapsed grocery delivery startup in May, rebranding it to Metro60 in Australia.

Products will be picked and packed by local Countdown supermarkets and will reach customers in under an hour.

At the time of launch, customers are eligible for free delivery on their first three orders and after that, a flat $7 delivery fee with no service fees applies.

Mark Wolfenden, director of digital and loyalty for Woolworths Group New Zealand, said the retailer is excited to share the “ultra-convenient” experience with New Zealand shoppers following the service’s popularity in Australia.

“Milkrun’s launch is a fantastic milestone as we continue our focus on delivering innovation that New Zealand customers are looking for as we change for the better to become Woolworths New Zealand.”

Vodka makers are taking a leaf out of the gin-making playbook, using botanicals and blends to create innovative flavours, says the International Wines and Spirits Record (IWSR).

Despite being “outshone” by other spirits in recent years, things are starting to change for the category as new product launches tap into contemporary and crossovers. 

Pre-mixed and RTDs

Because of increased demand for convenience, the pre-mixed and ready-to-drink (RTD) formats have grown in popularity. 

RTD cocktails, for example, saw global volumes increase by 10 per cent in 2021-22 and are expected to grow at a CAGR of 6 per cent from 2022-27. 

The study said vodka is well-placed to capitalise on these trends as spirits-based RTDs were set to replace the hard seltzer boom a few years ago.

Highlighting the classic cocktail trend include those from Billson’s with its lollipop-inspired Sour Blueberry vodka premix and Mishka’s fruit-flavoured RTD pre-mixed vodka.

Flavoured expressions

More recently, vodka makers are not just highlighting the flavours in its raw materials but also have begun using additional ingredients – including natural botanicals and extracts – that expand the drink’s flavoured expressions from subtle to overt.

These new flavours bridge the gap between gin and vodka categories and appeal to consumers familiar with botanical spirits and those not interested in sweet or artificial-flavoured vodka. 

In addition, because these spirits are distilled and not generally sweet, they tend to be low in calories and resonate with health-conscious consumers. 

Sustainable spirits

According to IWSR data, sustainability has been a growing trend in the spirits category, with vodka brands presently highlighting their origins.

Aside from their heritage, brands also present transparency on the ingredients used and the vodka’s distillation process.

An example of a sustainable spirits brand is 80 Proof Australia’s Ugly Vodka, with part of its base spirit made from apples that would otherwise be thrown away. The brand’s first batch is said to have saved 20 tonnes of apples from going to waste.

Move to premium

According to the IWSR, vodka, as with the spirits category in general, is leaning towards more premium launches. 

Data shows that the growth of the total vodka market has been “largely flat” and is expected to remain so over the next five years.

However, the global premium-and-above segment has seen more positive growth, expanding in consumption volume by over 6 per cent last year, with an expected CAGR of over 3 per cent during 2022-27.

Tasmanian charity Elsie Cameron Foundation has become the new owner of craft beer company Tribe Breweries, rescuing it from voluntary administration.

The brewery, which produces for brands such as Stockade Brew, Mornington Peninsula Brewery, and Wilde, has also appointed Heath Baker as its new CEO.

Baker told Shout that the completion of the administration process “marks a fresh start” for the brewery.

“We are extremely proud that despite this challenge, we maintained supply to all of our customers throughout the process and now with the business on renewed footing, this enables us to provide more certainty for our employees, customers and suppliers.”

Baker, who was the former GM of Tribe Breweries, has more than 25 years of experience in the corporate drinks and brewery business and was the former head of international alcohol at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners.

In his new role, he will oversee the day-to-day operations of the business and help scale its brands.

Food & Agribusiness Network (FAN) has named Nicole McNaughton as its new CEO after the successful cluster secures additional funding. 

McNaughton joined FAN in 2018 and has collaborated with the team and key stakeholders to acquire considerable financing to implement plans and programs. She worked with approximately 370 members, major partners at all levels of government, and premier academic institutes to improve the region’s food and beverage offerings. 

“Securing significant funding this year, to showcase and build capability in food and agribusiness tourism and roll out a new accelerator program, is the start of the next incredible journey for our regions,” she said. 

“It’s a great example of the work we conduct behind the scenes, where we connect with and work alongside key partners and stakeholders to be the conduit of connections and opportunities for our members and industry.” 

The chair of FAN, Jacqui Price, said Nicole has been acting CEO since late 2022 and has shown “wonderful devotion” to the post, providing more money for capability programs and searching out fresh methods to promote FAN’s work.

The battle for budget groceries is heating up as competitors to supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths, including Costco and Aldi, say their value offers are resonating with cash-strapped shoppers.

A flurry of competition on essential items comes as a UBS investment bank survey of suppliers last week suggested food inflation would moderate significantly but was expected to sit at about 4.8 per cent over the next year.

This inflation rate is expected to “prompt consumers to trade down to smaller pack sizes, private label and/or to Aldi”, UBS said in a note to clients, making Aldi the most likely business to grow market share over the next six months.

The German discount supermarket has been upbeat about its position in the face of the cost of living crisis. The company said last month that many shoppers had been coming to its stores for the first time recently, and it was gradually increasing the size of its shops.

“[Shoppers] might come in for meat, and it might take them a month, or two months, but they start exploring different parts of the range,” Aldi’s director of customer interactions, Adrian Christie, said.

Aldi is not the only grocery challenger looking to capture value-conscious consumers. The managing director of Costco in Australia, Patrick Noone, said the membership and online warehouse was still in expansion mode in Australia, and that food and fuel had been the company’s most popular categories in recent times as shoppers demanded more value on essentials.

“Costco offers a wide range of quality, brand-name items at the best possible prices,” he said. “A lot of these items are everyday essentials that provide the savings members are looking for. We also add a layer of competition to the grocery market and extend the choice of the consumer.”

IGA operator Metcash is also working on ways to deliver for value-conscious consumers, and has been trialling a new store format called Supa Valu, with two sites so far in NSW and one in Victoria.

“The format is designed to offer these shoppers amazing value on their weekly shop through our bulk buying, locking more prices down for longer, along with extra low prices on weekly specials for key items such as meat and produce,” said Metcash Food chief executive Grant Ramage.

Fast food chain McDonald’s is set to inject $1 billion into opening 100 new restaurants across Australia and upgrading its existing network.

The company’s Australian chief Antoni Martinez says the company wants to capture the brand’s growing popularity and modernise its online offering.

“I just think when you look at our performance at the moment, it’s a great opportunity for us to accelerate that growth,” Martinez told The Australian.

“We are seeing customers and sales growth, we’re seeing opportunities to innovate and excite customers, because we’re seeing drivers in growth such as the delivery platform and drive-thru, in our McCafe.”

The company plans to spend about $600 million on 100 new stores in the next three years while $450 million will be spent on refurbishing.

Martinez added that customers are “keen” to see more McDonald’s in their local communities since about 85 per cent of all McDonald’s stores are owned by franchisees.

The brand also wants to supercharge its “convenience offer” by making big improvements to its online platforms, home delivery and mobile app.

Over the past year, customers redeemed more than 58 billion points through the MyMacca’s Rewards program with total digital sales making up about 40 per cent of system-wide sales.

“It continues to highlight the value that customers put towards convenience, their ability to engage on the MyMacca’s app,” said Martinez.