For any start-up enterprise the goal is to hit the ground running and succeed beyond all expectations. The path getting there is often not smooth nor with typically fast results but for one food processor that completely shifted its core business a single piece of economical yet highly efficient and flexible cooking equipment led to exponential growth. Such is the case with Wanniassa Wheeler Food, an Australian food processor that four years ago planned to make dramatic changes to its business strategy: shift from being a low-volume supplier for a local franchise food chain to becoming a high-volume food processor providing a variety of culinary and convenience foods to global wholesalers, retailers and other food processors. This would be a tall order for most companies, but Wanniassa Wheeler had a vision that reconfiguring its 60,000 square foot facility with the proper equipment would enable the creation of a diversified line of cooked protein products while still continuing to supply its 47-store chain of Ali Baba QSR (quick service restaurants) outlets. The Ali Baba line includes Lebanese cuisine such as chicken kebabs, kafta fingers, salads and other items aimed at the casual dining segment. The chief idea for the new strategy was to cook protein products including chicken, lamb, beef, and turkey in the high volumes needed to satisfy supermarkets and even big box outlets such as Costco while also offering quality ranging from restaurant to gourmet level. “Our experience in cooking various meat products was limited to combination and walk-in ovens, but we knew those would not satisfy our requirement to have a high care facility,” explains Ali Marjan, manager of strategic and business development for Wanniassa Wheeler. “We wanted to minimize product contamination and restrict human handling of products to only placing them on a belt at the […]