New look products in Brownes overhaul
Fonterra will roll out new products and a new-look logo for its Brownes business in a $1 million-plus overhaul of the WA brand aimed at increasing market share in its home market.
The rebranding exercise, which will be launched through a series of television advertising campaigns, comes despite a review of Fonterra's milk business which could see the Brownes division broken up or sold.
The New Zealand-headquartered group announced in April a review of its "non-core regional liquid milk operations", which includes the Brownes business, and recently axed 140 jobs at its Balcatta plant after selling the Peters and Connoisseur ice-cream brands to Nestle and the Cadbury production licence to Bulla.
Brownes employs about 300 people at its two WA processing facilities and processes about 40 per cent of the State's milk production.
Brownes Foods general manager Tim Cusack said the overhaul of the WA business was "completely separate" to the strategic review process, the outcome of which is expected to be announced within weeks. "We're pretty upbeat about the state of the business and we're very optimistic about the outlook," he said.
Mr Cusack declined to discuss the financial performance of the business but said Brownes was looking to expand its production capacity after sales grew 6 per cent during 2008-09. Milk sales rose 8.9 per cent.
The group has produced Coles' private label milk products for the past 10 years and also manufactures dairy products for McDonald's.
The WA business will launch a new yoghurt product containing oats and barley next week and has also overhauled its YoGo dessert range to comply with the State Government's "traffic light" system for canteen food. The new recipe contains 25 per cent less sugar and 30 per cent less fat.
