As preparations are finalised for the Sunshine Coast’s multi million dollar food and beverage manufacturing precinct, Turbine, Andrew Eves-Brown has been appointed FMCG CEO.
Eves-Brown has more than 20 years FMCG experience across general management, supply chain and operations and most recently held the position of head of economic development at the Sunshine Coast Council, where he oversaw the Regional Economic Development Strategy review, and supported the region through the post-COVID recovery.
Eves-Brown said the Sunshine Coast had much potential in terms of food and beverage offering and Turbine would ‘turbocharge’ growth.
“When complete, the Turbine Precinct will be instrumental in removing many of the barriers faced by our small and medium businesses, helping them to grow and scale through shared infrastructure and manufacturing.
“Joining Turbine at a time when the project is about to get underway is a once in a lifetime opportunity as the precinct is set to become one of the most important infrastructure assets in our region contributing significantly to our GRP.
“This project will create something that is truly innovative in Australia and I am delighted to be able to use my extensive background in food innovation and manufacturing to lead this project through to completion over the next few years,” Eves Brown said.
In 2021 Turbine was successful in securing $8.78 million in Federal Government funding. When complete, the precinct will house manufacturing services, a research and development facility, warehousing and logistics, an expertise hub and an industry-specific training facility all of which are aimed at helping local food and beverage business scale up and develop the capability to expand into larger markets nationally and internationally. Turbine received a further $33.4m from the federal government in 2022, and is due to commence operations in late 2023
Turbine director and Food and Agribusiness Network (FAN) Chair, Jacqui Price said that as the next stages of Turbine were finalised, it was important to secure an experienced CEO who not only understood food and drink manufacturing but who understood the people and businesses in the region.
“In his role as CEO at COYO and before that as COO at Gourmet Garden, Andrew was instrumental in the creation of FAN and there is probably no one that understands our industry better,” said Price.
In 2019, Eves-Brown oversaw the $3 million relocation of COYO's Yandina facility, to its current facility on the heritage listed Big Pineapple site; part of a wider $60 million-dollar development of a food manufacturing and agribusiness precinct.
“As CEO of COYO, Andrew drove the strategy that established their products as a premium brand and saw the company more than quadruple in volume during his three-and-a-half-year tenure. Prior to COYO, he held the role of COO at Gourmet Garden for 11 years helping grow the business from $20m to $100m prior to the company selling to McCormick, Herb and Spices.
“His experience coupled with his commitment to collaboration makes Andrew the perfect choice to lead Turbine into the next phase,” said Price.
When complete, Turbine will be a purpose-built, end-to-end food and beverage manufacturing and education precinct driving growth, accelerating innovation and creating a blueprint for collaborative manufacturing.
Stage 1 of the Turbine Precinct will have a beverage focus and include a large-scale contract beverage facility; co-located beverage manufacturers; collaborative R&D centre, expertise and training hub; and hospitality showcase.
