Double Milestone for J.C.’s: 1000 products and 20 years

This month J.C.’s Quality Foods celebrates its 20th anniversary and the milestone of having more than 1000 different products in its catalogue.

J.C.’s is the leading Australian-owned company manufacturing and packing nuts, dried fruit and other ingredients in Australia for independent retailers.

Its products are available in more than 6,000 outlets around Australia and exported to six Asian countries including China.

What’s impressive is that this success has been achieved without any J.C.’s branded products sold in any of the major supermarkets.

Managing director and founder of J.C.’s Quality Foods, Joseph (Joe) Cannatelli, is passionate about supplying independent businesses. He said all J.C.’s branded products are sold through greengrocers and independent supermarkets, service stations and convenience stores, Officeworks, vending machines and provided on Australian domestic airlines.

“Underpinning every aspect in our business is loyalty. To our customers firstly, who are small business owners, to Australian growers who supply nuts and dried fruits and thirdly to the consumers who are loyal to the brand.”

When Joe started the business in 1994 with one product — a fruit bar — and Joe’s parents’ 1980 Commodore as a delivery vehicle, little did he realise where it would be 20 years later. Based in Knoxfield, in Melbourne’s east, it currently employs 125 people who work from two large modern facilities.

“Innovation is a keystone to business success with new products introduced on a regular basis. Our most recent new product range, J.C.’s Snack Packs, has been really well accepted by our retailers and their customers. We are continually innovating with new product categories and line extensions.”

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A brief history: J.C.’s Quality Foods

Joseph (Joe) Cannatelli started J.C.’s Quality Foods in September 1994 and it has been innovating ever since.

Joe started the business with one product — a fruit bar — and Joe’s parents’ 1980 Commodore as a delivery vehicle. At the time, Joe had a greengrocer shop in Croydon South (in Melbourne’s east) that he bought when he was 20 years old. His parents had a fruit and vegetable shop for 40 years.

Joe enjoyed wholesaling so much that he closed his shop in the same year and used the back half of his parents’ large store in nearby Wantirna for storage of stock, packing and distribution.

The company hasn’t looked back since then. It is still in the same area and has expanded many times over the past 20 years. Recently J.C.’s moved into new state-of-the-art manufacturing, packaging, warehousing and distribution facilities in Knoxfield, which cover a combined area of 20,000 square metres.

The current product range of more than 1000 items includes nuts, dried fruits, healthy fruit and nut mixes, beans, seeds, popcorn, honey, confectionery, fruit slices, rice crackers, gluten-free snacks, chocolate coated and yoghurt coated nuts and fruits, plus much more.
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