Austchilli has become one of Australia’s biggest ingredient suppliers, with more than 100 products in their portfolio. From fresh chillies and avocados to herb and vegetable purees, their products are currently exported to 10 countries and counting across the world.

28 years ago founder David Depaoli made a trip to the US and Mexico to learn about the world of chillies. At that time chillies were not the household staple that they are today, and in fact, most Australians didn’t even know about them. This is what led to the birth of Austchilli.


David Depaoli

“Austchilli is a food solutions business. We are known for our chillies and avocados, but we also offer a vast range of herb, vegetable, and fruit purees. We focus on adding value to our customers and products.” said Ben Horwood, Head of Sales at Austchilli.

Austchilli’s chilli puree has established itself in multiple channels, with incredible opportunity for further growth in food service. “Our chilli purees are where we started, with our first customer being KFC in Malaysia and Singapore. As we grew and started servicing major brands in Australia and across the world, retailers became aware of our Australian grown and made offering and asked us to service the fresh market too.”

“We only have market access for certain markets with fresh chillies, but a lot of countries are looking for our bespoke varieties. They want the very hots ones which are not available locally and this offers an exciting opportunity for our purees.”

Austchilli grow a diverse range of chillies on open ground. The chillies are all hand picked and can be supplied year-round due the different growing locations in Queensland.

“The weather in the last few years has had a massive impact on production for growers in Australia. At Austchilli we can supply our customers with chillies 52 weeks a year, come rain or shine. Our team of experienced growers have the passion and expertise to make this happen.”

Austchilli also has a successful healthy convenience retail line. Their AvoFresh range provides cold pressed avocados in both tubes and tubs; delivering the flavour and nutrients of a fresh avocado with the added benefit of long shelf life. With AvoFresh, avocado consumers can enjoy ripe and ready avocados every time.

“We started to really focus on our exports 12 months ago,” said Ben. “Our AvoFresh retail range is spearheading our export program and we have seen a 600% growth in the last 12 months. We have plans to expand this further in the next 12 months and beyond. We are already in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia and are looking at other Asian countries such as Vietnam and Thailand.”

Austchilli also grows avocados in their Queensland orchards for the fresh as well as processed channels. Fresh avocados for the domestic and export markets, are sold through partners.

Austchilli will be at Asia Fruit Logistica in Hong Kong next month at the Australia Pavilion, Stand 3R 01.

For more information:
Ben Horwood
Austchilli
Tel: +61 7 4150 3300
benh@austchilli.com.au
www.austchilli.com.au