Michael Robertson & Marc Smith, JL King & Co (Part Two)

Remarkable Regional Business – Episode 46 (Part Two)

Guest: Michael Robertson & Marc Smith

Business Name: JL King & Co

Website: https://www.jlking.com.au/

By the time they moved back to Bendigo they had already outgrown the new facility. And they hadn't even moved in yet.

In Part Two of this conversation on Remarkable Regional Business, Caleb Maxwell continues the discussion with Michael Robertson and Marc Smith from JL King and Co. The conversation moves into greater detail of how to build and run a food manufacturing business at a serious scale.

Michael talks through the chaos of operating across six different sheds around Bendigo before the new facility was built, how the Simply Tasty brand came together, and the process behind developing and launching new products. Including a crazy lasagna soup that came from a Chicago supermarket visit but flopped in Australia.

Marc brings his perspective as the recently appointed CFO on what the business needs to get to the next level, from systems and data to taking some of the load off a managing director still emailing late into the night.

Topics Covered

/ The Simply Tasty brand

How the name was chosen by a vote of ten people and what the product range looks like today across salads, baked dishes, pasta, Asian style meals and pub meals.

/ Contract manufacturing at scale