We hope you like our latest TV ads. They’re based on real stories, demonstrating the special relationships that IGA store owners have with their local customers, communities & suppliers.
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It can be hard for small local producers to get their products on supermarket shelves, but IGA stores across the country are well known for stocking local products and backing local suppliers.
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.”
Irish Blue
The D’Anna family, which this ad is based on, are proud owners of Boccaccio Supa IGA Balwyn. They’re passionate about sharing their love of food and wine with their customers, who are more like friends and family.
Their impressive cheese bar is stocked with over 1,000 cheeses, and their team of five cheesemongers work hard to keep their customers worded up on the best cheeses to suit their tastes. Despite their extensive offering, there was one customer who couldn’t find what he was after…
Anthony D’Anna said: “Adam, a regular customer of ours, was telling us about this blue cheese that was made in his village in Ireland, that he had never seen in Australia. He had been trying to track it down for ages, with no success and just wanted a little taste of home.
The team at Boccaccio IGA were able to locate the Cashel Irish Blue and made plans to surprise Adam next time he was in store.
Adam said: “I popped in to do my weekly shop and was over the moon when they surprised me with my favourite cheese from home. I couldn’t believe that they had gone to such an effort on my behalf, but it is just the type of people they are.”
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