In August 2023, Suntory announced that it would be bringing together its Australian alcohol business, Beam Suntory, and the non-alc Frucor Suntory business to create a new $3bn drinks partnership.
Since then, we’ve seen a string of appointments as the business prepared to take on the Australian market. Dai Minato was appointed CEO of Suntory Beverage & Food Oceania, Gordon Treanor brought in as Licensed Sales Director, Brad Erceg appointed as Chief Commercial Officer, Johnny Morgan join as Senior Marketing Director and Ian Roberts was appointed Chief Supply Officer.
We’ve also heard of teams of 80 Territory Managers and Sales Reps coming on board, as well as a strong advocacy team led by John Galiatsatos and featuring the likes of Alice Newport, Sophie Smallwood and Natalie Ng – to name but three.
So, it was with much excitement and anticipation that I ventured up to the new +$400 million production facility for its official opening in early July.
As you get into Ipswich and start to close in on the facility site, you get a sense of the scope, size and ultimately the potential of what Swanbank brings to Suntory Oceania. It might seem like a trivial place to start, but you’ve got to start at the beginning – and that’s the car park. I play soccer for Belmore Eagles. Our home ground – Rudd Park – is home to one full-size synthetic pitch, two full-size grass pitches, plus a half-size synthetic and grass pitch each. It’s a big space, but it would fit inside the Swanbank car park. This is a serious facility and a huge indicator of just how seriously Suntory is taking the Oceania region.
Then we entered the facility – and the scale continues. These photos don’t do justice to the sheer size of the shelving units, but here is where products are stacked before orders are fulfilled and shipped. This is state-of-the-art technology on display, with orders being collected and barcoded so Suntory Oceania is able to track every order and also easily trace who they need to contact in case of a recall.
CRAFTMANSHIP
The other numbers behind Swanbank give further insight into what Suntory Oceania has in mind for the region. There are two canning lines, which combined can fill 180,000 cans per hour, plus the glass line can fill 35,000 bottles an hour. And those pallet racks have the capacity to hold over 50,000 pallets of product.
Minato told me: “We want to be very relevant to our consumers. We want to be very fast to the market, we want to be creating products for innovation and craftmanship.
“Swanbank is a big piece of the puzzle. It’s more than just a factory – it’s a symbol of our belief in this market. The population is growing, the beverage category is evolving, and there’s a real appetite for innovation. That’s what makes this so exciting.”
Innovation is a consistent theme in Suntory Oceania’s vision for Australia, and it is something the team has clearly been working on. Even walking around the facility, there were some really exciting products in cans waiting to be launched.
Mark Hill, Managing Director of Suntory Global Spirits, Oceania, told FAB Media: “Now is the time for us to ignite the market, we’ve got a really strong pipeline of new products, and that makes us excited.”
“We have got a brand new state-of-the-art facility in Swanbank that has got a huge amount of capacity and ability to produce different types of products, and we will continue looking at all opportunities in the future.”
OPTIMISM
One of the big things I noticed during my tour around the facility, and in speaking to different people across the Suntory Oceania business, is the different mindset everyone has. I speak to a lot of industry people in different roles, different companies, different categories – lots of different people – and a common theme is: “it’s tough out there.” Some are talking about green shoots and hope for the future. Suntory Oceania, though, is about confidence and excitement.
Hill said: “What excites me most is that we’ve made a big investment, which shows that confidence for the future. The investment is not just in the facility, I could talk to other areas in the business, such as we are making a big investment in brand advocacy, we’re bringing back Club Suntory.
“We really believe in the categories that we are playing in and the growth potential in there.”
It is very exciting to hear a business – and the people within that business – talk about the growth potential for Australia, and the ethos that underpins this drive for responsible and sustainable growth. One of the things that has been said frequently during the launch of Suntory Oceania is that it will be the fourth-largest beverage company in Australia and New Zealand – I asked Minato about this.
He said: “As a business I would love to grow very fast, but responsibility is number one and growing responsibly and sustainably are things that I have to consider.”
Minato added: “There is a unique culture and value rooted in Suntory, it is called ‘Yatte Minahare’, it’s about aspiring big, dreaming big, making it happen and making it a reality. That’s the mindset. We’re not happy with number four, we want to be higher than number four.
“The commitment to this market really comes from our aspiration of this Oceania market as a gross market. When you look at Japan, it has been growing and we have been aligning with our consumers and customers, but from a macro perspective they have a challenged age demographic and so Suntory is really looking to expand abroad and Oceania is a core part of that.”
Suntory Oceania’s expansion into Australia is an exciting prospect for the market as a whole. To have this shift from “things are tough” to “we are targeting growth” and “we are going to significantly back ourselves” could well be the start of the rising tide that raises all boats.
Minato told me: “Our objective is to be pioneers of new beverage experiences through innovation and craftsmanship. We’re not calling it a specific category.
“We see ourselves as here to deliver new beverage experiences, and our customers and consumers are people who need us to make that happen, so we would love to partner with them going forward.”
THE BEGINNING
He added: “I’m personally energised by what we’re building here. Our people are already feeling the momentum, and I think consumers will too. This is just the beginning.
“This is the first time we’ve brought together our full beverage portfolio under one end-to-end model outside of Japan. It’s a big step that brings us closer to our customers and allows us to move faster from idea to shelf.”
In the two years since Suntory Oceania was first announced to the Australian trade, the company has built a state-of-the-art production facility that will underpin its growth. It has developed an innovation pipeline that promises new, exciting, on-trend products hitting the shelves quickly. And it has built a team that has already bought into the vision, plan and ethos of Suntory – a team that will lead growth.
There is no doubt that it has been a tough few years – and it may continue – but as someone who writes about this industry, to see Suntory Oceania come into the region with its focus on innovation and growth is exciting. And it’s also exciting to see how others will respond.
This trip to visit the Swanbank production facility was funded by Suntory Oceania, who paid for flights and accommodation.