Posted on October 19, 2017
At a gala dinner in Melbourne last night attended by around 1200 Coles suppliers and team members, Petuna was awarded the winner for its development of a new hatchery, which significantly reduces water intake and its environmental footprint.
The new hatchery at Cressy enables Petuna to potentially grow another three million fish with very little reliance on the river system.
Petuna acting CEO David Wood said the team was delighted to win the award.
“This award recognises the continued hard work and dedication our team puts in and provides our consumers with an assurance of our sustainable practices,” Mr Wood said.
“Environmental and social responsibility is key to Petuna and we are proud to be recognised with this award, given it highlights our achievement amongst the high-quality suppliers servicing Coles across a broad range of categories.”
Coles Director of Deli, Seafood and Convenience, Andy Coleman, said the Petuna team were deserving recipients of the award.
“We are delighted to be working with such an innovative producer who is supporting sustainable aquaculture in Australia,” he said.
“Petuna has demonstrated a commitment to responsible sourcing and have made a significant contribution to sustainability by ensuring they minimise the impact of their growing business on a very important ecosystem.”
The Sustainable and Ethical Excellence Award is one of seven categories recognising suppliers’ excellence in providing merchandise, services and goods not-for-resale across Coles’ business.
Winners of the other six categories were:
- Victorian tomato grower, Flavorite, won the Community Champion of the Year Award for its support of Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision to help raise funds to find new treatments for Bone Marrow Failure.
- Family-owned poultry business, The Cordina Food Company, based in Girraween in NSW, won the Product Innovation Award for the development of a delicious new fresh and chilled product for Coles Brand in the crumbed chicken category.
- Melbourne wholesale bakery and manufacturer, Allied Pinnacle, won the Best Product Launch category for their hot cross buns, which were recognised by Choice and voted the Best Hot Cross bun in Australia.
- Don Smallgoods in Castlemaine won the Supply Chain Excellence Award for its seamless delivery of a new deli ham range for Coles stores.
- Lockelec Innovations, based in Melbourne’s suburb of Braeside, won the Rising Star Award for designing and building the ‘Red Rover’ motorised trolley pusher to assist with trolley collection and supporting safer work practices for Coles team members.
- Linfox Armaguard Pty Ltd won the Outstanding Service Award for their management of Coles’ cash handling services.