GEOFF Taylor was one of Australia’s leading motorbike riders in the 60s.
Four decades later, his retail motorcycle store is a leader in its own class, making Dandenong a drawcard for motorcycle enthusiasts.
Mr Taylor began his business in 1971 and it has since grown thanks to the leading motorcycle brands of Yamaha and Honda.
Mr Taylor says that those two brands alone account for 50 per cent of motorcycle sales in Australia, making them a valuable – if not essential – product to stock.
Geoff Taylor Motorcycles moved to its current Cheltenham Road and Foster Street site in 2000 and is roughly the size of two car dealerships.
Mr Taylor’s son Darren works for the company as general manager and dealer principal, and the showroom sells about 600 new bikes and 200 used each year.
Geoff Taylor Motorcycles was nominated for Service Excellence, Retail, and Small Business.
A1 BAKERY in Dandenong has an iconic status in Melbourne’s south-east as the place to be for fresh Middle Eastern bread and groceries.
Customers flock to the bakery and grocery store in droves from places such as the Mornington Peninsula, Berwick, Endeavour Hills and in the Dandenong Ranges and Phillip Island.
The business began in 2003 when brothers Eddie and Sami Abdallah were looking for a change from the long hours of operating a restaurant in Frankston.
It was a fresh start – and still remains that way with specialty Lebanese bread baked daily.
In addition to the breads, a variety of pastries and other treats are cooked on site, too.
Customers have a habit of shopping and then staying for lunch, a coffee, and some baklava (a sweet pastry).
A1 Bakery is the perfect example of a business that is able to attract people from outside of the region into central Dandenong.
It was nominated for Service Excellence, Small Business, and Retail.
IT WOULD be too easy to start the story of Tip Top Bakeries’ nomination with a spirited Good Onya Mum!
But it’s impossible to let the famous slogan slide in order to emphasise the fact that Dandenong is home to one of the nation’s most recognisable brand of bread.
Part of the George Weston Foods Limited group, Tip Top Bakeries has expanded to include variations on the brand such as Sunblest, Noble Rise and Golden.
The Dandenong site has about 400 employees including 60 drivers, and boasts over 50 employees who have each served for 25 years or longer.
Challenges in the present day are focused around health conscious consumers wanting bread with a low GI rating as well as high fibre, yet at an affordable price.
After 20 years of making bread in Dandenong, Tip Top was nominated in the categories of Service Excellence and Employment.
OF THOSE thousands of trucks carting goods around Dandenong South’s industrial areas, it’s a compliment to know some of their bodies were manufactured in the same suburb.
Alltruck Bodies began in 1991 with the goal of supplying quality truck bodies to a rigid truck market in South Eastern Australia.
The business began with a 780 square metre factory in Monterey Road, but thanks to its growth is now based along Dandenong-Frankston Road in a massive 6800 square metre office site with an extra 7000 square metres of storage adjoining it.
Alltruck can claim to have supplied bodies to a variety of clients such as the TNT courier service, and more recently the Department of Defence.
The company has worked hard with the EPA to slash fibreglass fumes and their impact on the environment.
Alltruck Bodies employs over 80 staff with at least eight of those people having served more than 10 years.
It was nominated in the areas of Corporate and Social Responsibility, Employment, Service Excellence and Innovation.
FROM shopping trolleys to wire containers holding gas bottles, Minwa Australia’s wire techniques are in a sense an art form taken for granted.
The Hallam-based company has a large site to cater for demand of its services.
Large clients such as BOC Gases, Goodman Fielder and Coles rely on Minwa for a variety of wire-based products.
But of late, Minwa has looked beyond the square to innovate within the wire industry.
It has designed the Total Care Management Turning Bed, specifically made for patients confined to bed for extended periods.
The bed can turn patients from side to side using a patented safety cradles.
The bed also benefits nurses – it is safer because they do not have to lift the patient to turn them.
Minwa is a leader in its field, and was nominated in the areas of Small Business, Innovation, and Service Excellence.
Developments
GREEN is the nature of a fledgling cosmetic and household cleaning product company in Dandenong.
Greencare Developments began in 2004 on the same site as a therapeutic goods manufacturer.
Graham Smith and partner Bill Daft bought the business seeing its potential.
At the time, the company’s main product was the cleaning range marketed under the Orange Power brand.
Now, Greencare Developments boasts a range of products including moisturisers, spa products, hair care, tanning solutions, massage products and others that are developed without chemical preservatives, articifical colours or fragrances.
The business employs seven full time staff and relies on contract casuals to help meet peak demand.
Its environmental focus has earned Greencare Developments nominations in the areas of Corporate and Social Responsibility, Small Business, Service Excellence and Innovation.
