Ugly Duck Preserves
Sunshine Coast IGA retailers Roz and Michael White lead with a local first mentality and support local producers and suppliers wherever possible via their Locavore Food Program. A locavore is a person who chooses to consume food that is grown, raised or produced locally, and Roz and Michael now stock hundreds of products from over 80 local producers on the shelves of their stores.
One of those products is Ugly Duck Preserves, a range of fruit spreads, chutney, relishes and fruit pastes, created using imperfect, non-standard and surplus produce that would otherwise end up in landfill.
Owner of Ugly Duck Michelle Mascher started the business after learning that 795,000 tonnes of fruit produced in Australia was rejected at farm level annually. “I saw how much produce was getting wasted for superficial imperfections and I decided that something better could be done with that produce. We originally started stocking our products at famers markets and small delis, but White’s IGA were the first to stock our products on a larger scale. This gave me a great deal of confidence in my products and it was when Ugly Duck became a real brand.”
Roz White said: “We started stocking her range in all our stores as quickly as we could, and our customers couldn’t be happier!”
Michelle continued: “We have grown so quickly in such a short space of time and I am now aiming for nationwide distribution. Some people say they support local, but Roz truly lives and breathes this and what she has done for so many local producers is amazing.”