MEAT PIE :thumb
Pie makers play ketchup
January 12, 2007 06:00am
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A WAR is brewing in the US between Australia's humble meat pie and America's hot dog.
Two major Australian meat pie companies, Four'N Twenty and Vili's, have launched grand expansion plans in the US designed to win over American tastebuds.
In the not too distant future in Manhattan, Aussie meat pie carts will compete on busy street corners with the city's famous hot dog stands.
Vending machines will sit alongside Coke and chip machines offering hot meat pies for hungry Americans on the go.
Sports venues such as New York's Yankee Stadium or Los Angeles Lakers' Staples Centre will smell like the MCG or SCG, with American sports fans offered the Aussie meat pie in addition to the traditional hot dog, nachos or hamburger.
At stake are billions in export dollars for Melbourne-based Four'N Twenty and Adelaide's Vili's.
"It's the greatest Western market in the world and it's untapped," says Joshua Kearney, who is leading the push by Vili's in the US.
"There are a few people in the US here and there that make their little boutique pies, but there's no one like Vili's who can do it on our scale."
Despite the size of the US, with its 300 million residents, the meat pie is a stranger to Americans.
When Americans think "pie", it is dessert, whether it's an apple, pumpkin or banana cream pie.
Many turn their noses up at the thought of meat in a pie and both companies agree the key is getting curious Americans to taste a meat pie.
"Right now, Americans can get a hot pocket or Jamaican beef patty, but when they eat the Australian product their first comment is: 'Well, it tastes really good'," says Florida-based Edward Beshara, who is heading Four'N Twenty's expansion into the US.
Vili's Kearney, based in Las Angeles, has had a similar experience. "We have to tell Americans it's a savoury and not a sweet," he says. "We tell them it's like a shepherd's pie, because there are a lot of Irish and British descendants in America, they understand that."
Americans also take a different approach to tasting a meat pie. "They always want to break it open and have a look at what's inside," Kearney says.
"They're worried about what's in it and ask you 10 times over exactly what's in it.
"You tell them it's beef and they ask: 'What cut of beef?"'
Expat Australians are not so picky.
Vili's sold 4000 pies for $US7.50 each to the mostly Australian fans at last year's G'day LA AFL exhibition match between the Sydney Swans and the Kangaroos in Los Angeles.
Vili's stocks were sold out before half-time, an amazing feat when the crowd for the game was just 3000.
Four'N Twenty and Vili's will be spreading the word today in Los Angeles at one of the key G'day USA Australia Week events at the Australian Made Food and Wine Trade Expo.
Their pies will be among 200 Australian food products showcased for 400 representatives from some of America's largest supermarkets and retailers. The two previous G'Day food expos have generated more than $1 million in new sales in the US for Australian companies.
"Typically, pie exporters think the key challenge to them will be overcoming US food and labelling regulations," says Australian Trade Commissioner in Los Angeles Kylie Hargreaves. "In fact, the key obstacles are the American consumer's lack of familiarity with meat pies and then the sheer scale of the US marketplace.
"Managing your production and distribution channels in the US is normally what makes or breaks an Aussie pie exporter."
Kearney, the 27-year-old chief executive of his family's company, Aussie Imports, which has the US rights to distribute Vili's products, has secured a key distribution deal with American food giant US Foodservices.
"They have 78 distribution centres across America, so that will give us some serious penetration in restaurants, pubs, clubs, sports venues," Kearney says. "Anyone across America will be able to get a Vili's pie."
Kearney is also teaming up with Hollywood celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck to offer Vili's pies in LA's premier indoor sports arena, Staples Centre, which is home to the LA Lakers and Clippers basketball teams and ice-hockey team the LA Kings.
Four'N Twenty's Beshara is also pursuing US sports stadium deals, as well as race tracks, convenience stores, airlines, universities and amusement parks.
"We are working on that (sports stadiums) right now," Beshara, an Australian who has lived in the US for 27 years and owns the Four'N Twenty US distribution rights through his company OzePie, says.
"With a lot of the stadium feeding now they're trying to incorporate all different types of cuisine, whether it's from different cultures or even a different twist on American comfort food."
Beshara also has the US rights to another Australian food icon, Pavlova Pantry.
Vili's and Four'N Twenty will also tempt Americans with sausage rolls and pasties.
"We're bringing in the traditional meat pie, the beef and cheese, beef and BBQ, a pie with no trans-fat, sausage rolls, pasties and the party versions," Beshara says.
Vili's and Four'N Twenty also hosed down talk they were bitter rivals in the US.
"We're competitors in Australia, but we don't see it the same way in the US," Kearney says. "It's a huge market in the US with 300 million people. We could do business here happily and not even see each other."
AAP
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