This family-run business holds the humble mushroom in the highest regard.
According to Nick Femia, each mushroom produced by SA Mushrooms is precious. “They are all delicately handpicked,” the company’s managing director says. “It's a one-touch system - so the picker picks it and puts it in the box. No one touches it again until the person in the shopping centre buys it.”
The history of this family business begins with Nick’s father, Sam, being a greengrocer for 50 years.
This was a very important aspect in developing their business. It provided an insight to what they do because they now supply retailers with mushrooms. “We'd like to think we know exactly what they want.”
Their dad’s fruit and veg shop (Sam's Fruit Market) was in the St Agnes Shopping Centre. When the family decided to look for another path in life, they visited a mushroom farm for sale in the south of Adelaide. “We didn't purchase that one, but we fell in love with the smells, what we were seeing, and the way it was done,” Nick says. “It was just so intriguing.”
They went the distance to find out more. “Holland is the world's mecca for mushrooms; the machinery, technology, computers, consulting, the whole process.” From that visit we got back and decided we were going to buy our own land and develop our own mushroom farm.”
It took five years to come to fruition. Nick went back to Europe, did an extensive training course in Holland and visited several Dutch farms. On his return, Nick went the extra few yards to gain as much experience as he could by working for free for a mushroom farm in Queensland.
Upon Nick’s return, his brother Nat and Sam threw themselves head first into their business. “Dad still remains a part of this business, he's 76 years young and still maintains a strong passion and work ethic.”
Things progressed quickly. “We started with 2.5 tonnes of mushrooms per week in 1998, we've slowly built that up to 20 tonnes, and by mid-2019 we'll be at 50 tonnes. It's been an ongoing expansion.” They operate out of a state of the art, climate-controlled facility on the Adelaide Plains. Currently, the business employs 50 people but will double to 100 after the expansion. The farm produces Swiss Brown, White Button and field mushrooms and is a major supplier to Foodland stores. They are also one of two companies in Australia producing Vitamin D Mushrooms (they’re given a short burst of light after they have been harvested to boost Vitamin D levels).
“In 2011 we bought our own market stand in the South Australian Produce Market, which is managed by Nat.” In 2014 they built their own compost yard and now sell mushroom compost to various nurseries and landscape companies. as well.
For the family’s hard work, in 2013 SA Mushrooms was awarded Primary Producer of the Year at the South Australian Food Industry Awards.
Nick says South Australia had been a great place to start a business. In South Australia, you see a lot of beautiful cheeses and beautiful wines… they're selling at a premium because we pay for good quality. Our standard is higher, and that allows for boutique companies to get off the ground then spread their wings nationally, like we have.”
Visit SA Mushrooms Website: http://www.samushrooms.com.au/
