MEAT, POULTRY & SEAFOOD
Family business upgrades its smoked meat manufacturing facility Poachers Pantry (Poachers) smoked meats was established in 1991 by Susan and Robert Bruce on the family’s property after identifying a gap in the local market for European smallgoods. Now in the business’s 32nd year, their son, William Bruce, and his partner, Lauren Allen, are taking the reins and preparing the manufacturing facility for the next three decades.
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ver the years, Poachers has supplied product to supermarkets, delis, restaurants across Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, as well as product to the Qantas business class menus. In more recent years — in partnership with distributors Cartel and Co, Flavours Group, Harris Farm and Brindabella Foods — products 12
November/December 2023
can be found across the east coast of Australia, down to Tasmania and more recently in Queensland. The production facility lies in the heart of a working farm, just north of Canberra. It operates the Smokehouse Restaurant, weddings and events, a vineyard and wine label. The smoked meats and wine produced on the property can www.foodprocessing.com.au
be enjoyed by visitors to the restaurant. In 2022, Poachers received a NSW Government’s Regional Jobs Creation Fund grant, allowing the business to significantly upgrade the production facilities, including the purchase of brand new curing, cooking and smoking equipment from Germany, through CBS Food Tech in Sydney.