Close×

Behind many a successful brand is an original startup story about a founder who had a groundbreaking idea and took a risk or two to 'make it happen'.

While every narrative is different, and every brand experience a one-of-a-kind journey from concept to shelf, there are some common threads.

Most startups will tell you it takes courage and conviction, a fair measure of technical and market know-how – your own or borrowed – and considerable sums of money (again, your own or borrowed) to get a new idea, however innovative, off the ground.

And then it takes true grit, resilience, unbridled passion and usually even more investment to keep the 'show on the road' ...and, for that matter, to take it down any new road too.

At the Breaking Boundaries industry event, brought to you by Food & Drink Business and PKN and taking place on 4 August in Sydney, we'll hear from home-grown brands plotting their path to export, multinationals backing accelerator programs for startups disrupting the food industry, and experts unpacking technology solutions that can offer early-mover advantages for brands seeking to enter new markets.

Among the brandowners presenting are home-grown functional beverage company MADE (pictured); Archie Rose Distilling Co., an artisan distiller with a groundbreaking business model; startup Chewsr, which has won backing from Simplot's Ignite accelerator program; social enterprise Thankyou, that has used a powerful and innovative crowdfunding campaign to take its startup brand into a new product category and across the Tasman to start a second company.

You can find more here and take advantage of the early bird offer here.

Packaging News

Pact Group will delist from the ASX on Wednesday 16 July, the move being the culmination of executive chair and owner Raphael Geminder’s near two-year bid to take full control of the company.

Packaging is at the heart of Suntory’s bold new chapter in Australia, marked by the opening of its $400 million beverage production facility in Swanbank, Queensland – a site purpose-built to deliver high-speed, high-efficiency bottling, canning and kegging through world-class packaging technology and sustainable design.

Ego Pharmaceuticals has unveiled a bold new chapter in its commitment to local manufacturing, announcing a $156 million, decade-long investment to expand its Victorian operations.