By Casey Neill
Dandenong South business From Granny started accidentally.
“Mum just cooked some dumplings for dinner. Friends took some home, their friends tried them…” director Tatiana Kuzovova said.
They now produce 300 kilograms of dumplings per day.
From Granny, Dandenong Oasis YMCA and Food Safety Labels were unveiled as nominees for the Greater Dandenong Chamber Business Awards at a breakfast at Punthill Apartment Hotel Dandenong on Friday 18 May.
Ms Kuzovova travelled to Russia, China and Malaysia to see how other dumpling factories ran, and the equipment used before setting up in Swift Way.
The manufacturer sells to delicatessens, health food stores and artisan retailers in Victoria and interstate, and exports 2000kg per month to New Zealand.
It has 17 lines of wheat flower dumplings and five gluten-free varieties.
Ms Kuzovova was shocked when told to highlight the natural ingredients in their dumplings, and that other companies used fillers to make a profit.
“I didn’t think that people would actually do that,” she said.
“I didn’t think it was important to put those labels on our boxes.”
From Granny employs five staff, including mums Ms Kuzovova met through her child’s school who were new to Australia.
“They really appreciate that they can have a job,” she said.
“They’re rally bored sitting at home but can’t make the first move.”
YMCA manages the Dandenong Oasis on behalf of the City of Greater Dandenong.
Centre manager Trudy Micallef said the YMCA was about opportunity, and the pool centre focused on culturally and linguistically diverse communities (CALD), fitness, mindfulness, youth employment and reducing social isolation.
She said 19 per cent of drownings in Victoria were people born overseas.
“We often see people dive in the deep end and they don’t realise danger they’re in,” she said.
“For us it’s about how do we educate, how do we find opportunities for them to learn?”
Oasis runs swimming programs that target CALD communities, trains people from different cultural backgrounds in life saving, and fund-raises so it can subsidise centre access for people in need.
Food Safety Labels in Noble Park started as a sideline to director and owner Orkun Bayhan’s other company, Ausbag.
Five years ago he saw an opportunity to manufacture and supply food rotation labels.
It started with day dot stickers to place on food in hospitals, aged care facilities, schools and day care centres.
Account manager Leanne Heathcote said the labels were increasingly part of most commercial kitchens.
“They’re dots you put onto unused portions of food,” she said.
“You don’t end up with wastage and you don’t food poison your customers.”
Ms Heathcote said 17 per cent of Australians had at least one food allergy.
“It’s all about colour-coding as well,” she said.
“It’s the easiest way to go about not injuring people in your restaurants.”
Food Safety Labels has customers nation-wide.
“We are growing every day,” Ms Heathcote said.
“We’ve seen 100 per cent growth in past 12 months.
“My goal would be every kitchen is using food safety labels within the next 12 months to two years.”
