LOCKDOWN UNLEASHES OUR INNER MAGGIE
AUSTRALIANS in lockdown through COVID-19 have been cooking more and are using more products branded by one of Australia’s most famous celebrity cooks, Maggie Beer.
Her collections of pastes, pate, cheese and cooking stocks have become more popular and, increasingly, buyers are shopping online, making Maggie Beer an internet sensation.
Online orders were particularly popular with the Maggie Beer site recording a 167 per cent increase in online sales for the first half of fiscal 2021. Cheese and cooking stocks were the best performing categories, with increases in net sales of 76 per cent and 44 per cent.
Maggie Beer Holdings, the ASX-listed food group that bought full control of Maggie Beer’s food empire in 2019 after acquiring an initial stake in 2016, is now taking the
cook’s foods to the world, too, after robust trade locally for the six months to Christmas.
Ms Beer and her husband Colin retain a 3 per cent stake in Maggie Beer Holdings and Ms Beer is also a director of the company. Maggie Beer Holdings said in a trading update it had achieved record sales in the first half with net sales up by 20 per cent and its online platform doing a roaring trade in food sales.
The company entered into
a partnership with meal delivery business Marley Spoon late last year.
Maggie Beer Holdings also owns Paris Creek Farms and Saint David Dairy, but its key business is the Maggie Beer Products arm. Group sales for Maggie Beer Holdings were up 20 per cent.
Maggie Beer Holdings said group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation had improved by $2m in the first half.