Major Aussie food supplier featured on Masterchef Australia collapses after 30 years in business

A popular Australian food supplier has gone bust after more than three decades in business.

The five companies trading under the name The Essential Ingredient were declared voluntary bankrupt on Thursday.

It comes just days after award-winning dairy producer Beston Global Food Company announced that the company is in voluntary bankruptcy.

Before its demise, The Essential Ingredient had 60 employees and was featured as a specialty store on the popular series Masterchef Australia.

The company was founded in 1986 and sells cookware, kitchen appliances and cookbooks from local and international suppliers.

It had three stores, an online store and a wholesale business for the hospitality and retail trade before going bankrupt after 34 years.

Robert Ditrich, Rebecca Gill and Craig Crosbie from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Australia have been appointed as voluntary trustees.

Essential Ingredient directors Syd Weddell and Peter Walmsley described the failure as a “huge disappointment”.

The Essential Ingredient (pictured) had 60 employees before it went bust and was featured as a specialty food brand on the hit series Masterchef Australia

According to the directors, the company had failed to return to pre-coronavirus profitability despite some investments in post-pandemic growth.

“We are committed to working with PwC and our talented employees so that we can continue to serve our highly valued clients,” the experts said.

Executives said the company faced a “challenging” operating environment.

“The inventory losses during the COVID-19 shutdown and higher operating costs are impacting profitability,” Mr. Ditrich said.

“Our aim is to act quickly to preserve the business and as many jobs as possible. We intend to continue trading and sell the business and assets as a going concern, expecting strong interest from potential buyers.”

The news comes three days after dairy brand Beston Global Food Company, which supplies Coles, Woolworths and IGA, announced it had gone bankrupt.

KPMG has taken over the award-winning company, which is one of South Africa’s largest dairy exporters.

The Essential Ingredient had three stores (pictured), an online store and a wholesale business for the hospitality and retail trade before going bankrupt after 34 years

Beston Global Food Company, the manufacturer of Edwards Crossing (pictured) and Mabel’s cheeses, has gone into voluntary bankruptcy

In addition to its well-known cheeses, the company also sold whey and lactoferrin proteins to manufacturers of nutritional supplements, including Chinese manufacturers of baby food. In addition, the factories produced milk and butter.

Beston blamed the collapse on high energy costs and a fall in farm gate milk prices, and said successive interest rate hikes over the past two years had increased the company’s debt.

The manufacturer has two factories at Jervois, south-east of Adelaide, and at Murray Bridge and has good relationships with dairy farmers in South Africa and western Victoria and with international buyers.

Talks were underway with Japanese dairy giant Megamilk Snow Brand to buy the Jervois production facility, but these talks fell through last week.