Nourishing Bites is an Indigenous business founded by Yadhaigana (Cape York) and Thursday Island man, Daniel Grainger and his wife, Shelley. In 2021, they were awarded a Deadly Deals grant through Advance Queensland to help them develop their products and processes to market. They are also finalists in the 2022 Queensland Reconciliation Awards for going above and beyond their core business to foster reconciliation.
Founded in 2013, this regional business specialises in hand-crafted treats made using flavoursome, premium-quality ingredients selected for their nutritional benefits.
Their entire product range is gluten, dairy and refined sugar free and includes a selection of egg free, raw, vegan and paleo friendly products.
Nourishing Bites Founder, Shelley, knows just how important it is to back Indigenous businesses and said support from Advance Queensland has allowed them to expand their niche offerings.
“Queensland Indigenous businesses exist in a unique context, that we think is well worth promoting to the rest of the world,” Shelley said.
“To maintain a unique positioning in the marketplace, it’s so important to continually look for inspiration and ways to innovate and differentiate your business offerings.
“It is also important to support your offer with focused implementation plans and consistent effort towards achieving them.
“Advance Queensland has helped our Indigenous business to refocus its strategy on innovative native food products to clearly differentiate our offer and establish a unique niche in the artisan food industry.
“From our experience, supporting Indigenous businesses provides great benefit, not only by helping us to expand our unique offerings but also by exposing us to a much larger national and international audience – which is important for all of Queensland’s Indigenous business sector.”
Proud of the company’s expanding customer base, Shelley said one of their greatest achievements has been their ability to pivot when faced with challenges.
“The 2019 Townsville monsoon, COVID-19 and the general economic downturn in North Queensland has presented challenges for many regional businesses,” Shelley said.
“We are so proud that we have continued to find ways to pivot and adapt to both maintain and grow the business. We have built a strong and fiercely loyal customer base, especially for our signature choc hazelnut spread, Heavenly Hazel.”
Looking to the future, Nourishing Bites have a goal to market their products so that people beyond their loyal customer base recognise the business for their high quality, healthy ingredients and products.
“Within the next three years, we are aiming to scale up our operations to cater for the national level health food sector,” Shelley said.
“By making connections through our marketing efforts, we also plan to export a wide range of our native food products to Asia and other international markets within the next five years.”
