Page 10 - National Poultry Newspaper

The Donugs with their three different sauces. Photos: Network Ten
A CHICKEN nugget crossed with a doughnut is something you’d think would have happened a long time ago.
Now, Melbourne man Crag Carrick and his wife Rachel Dutton have in- vented it, and they picked up a $100,000 deal on Shark Tank to bring it to the world.
The couple entered the show seeking $100,000 for a 20 percent stake in their new business, Donug.
“I’m not changing the world with this product,” Mr Carrick said.
“I’m giving something that’s fun, it’s easy to understand, people get it straight away.”
While the Donug is a combination of doughnut and chicken nugget, Mr Carrick said there was nothing sweet about it.
“It’s all savoury,” he said.
“It’s 98 percent chicken that has our unique and top-secret spice mix.
“The Donug has then got a cornflake and panko crumb and three different sauces — a cheesy dijon béchamel, a golden Japa- nese curry and mozzarella and a hot chilli, or you can have it just on its own.”
Mr Carrick said every day he went on social me- dia and saw some crazy new food trend coming up in Japan or LA.
“I want this to be the crazy new food trend com- ing out of Melbourne,” he said.
RedBalloon founder Naomi Simson was im- pressed, saying she “wouldn’t eat a chicken nugget” but would “defi-
nitely eat that”.
“People are looking for
a full meal, and I think it is a whole meal,” she said. “It’s quite substantial.”
While the Sharks were impressed with the taste, they were more impressed with the numbers.
Donugs sell for $9 but cost $2.20 to make, with that figure to rise to $4 at the manufacturing stage.
Mr Carrick said he had only done two events so far but had already made $8000 in profit.
He wanted the invest- ment to ‘take it to the next level’.
“I want to go to the man- ufacturing stage,” he said. “I’ve been working with a manufacturer so far try- ing to get a prototype to-
gether.
“$100,000 basically
kickstarts the process. “$50,000 gets me my first 10,000 Donugs made, $40,000 is for a
proper event setup, and $10,000 is for insurance and branding.”
Internet entrepreneur Steve Baxter loved the taste but had concerns about the viability of the business, saying it was a “very uncomplicated product”.
“You mince up some chicken, throw some spice in, shape it,” he said.
Investor Andrew Banks also wasn’t convinced.
“I’m sitting here asking myself, is it a franchise?” he said.
“Is it partly frozen cooked at home?
“The execution risk is huge.
“There’s a million mov- ing parts to get this from being a nice brand to something that’s a really big business.
“I wish you well, but I’m out.”
Greencross founder Glen Richards said he had
moved into the “wellness space” with his food in- vestments.
“If you’d come on with a vegan, paleo, organic, nut- free, sugar-free, savoury snack, I’d probably go with you,” he said.
Boost Juice founder Ja- nine Allis said while she thought they were “onto something”, they hadn’t “proven their tenacity”, asking them to “please come back next year”.
But to ever yone’s su r- prise, Naomi circled in.
“I don’t think you need to come back next year because I’m about to make you an offer,” she said, countering with $100,000 for 25 percent of the business.
The couple happily ac- cepted.
“It’s about getting Donugs sold here at every sporting ground, every servo, every fish-and-chip shop,” Mr Carrick said.
The business has already made $8000 profit from two events.
The Sharks were impressed with the taste of the Donugs.
Naomi Simson swooped in with a $100,000 investment.
Chicken nugget/doughnut hybrid takes away $100,000 deal on Shark Tank
Farmers call for agriculture to be at the heart of EU-Australia bilateral
THE National Farm- ers’ Federation has welcomed the official start of negotiations towards a free trade agreement with the European Union, as announced by Trade Minister Steve Ciobo recently.
NFF president Fiona Simson congratulated Minister Ciobo and the Government and urged the minister to ensure agriculture was at the heart of a bilateral with the trading bloc.
“Enhanced trading conditions with the EU represent a significant opportunity for Aus- tralian farmers,” Ms Simson said.
“A comprehensive and high-quality agreement could substantially im- prove market access for Australian agricultural products such as red meat (beef, sheepmeat and goatmeat), dairy, horticulture, grains and oilseeds, sugar, cotton, rice and wool.”
Ms Simson, who led a delegation of farm sector representatives on a trade mission to the region in January, said a bilateral trade agreement with the EU would be another ‘string in the bow’ of
Australian farmers’ marketing options.
“The EU is a niche, premium market for Australian agriculture,” she said.
“Our high-quality agricultural products are ideally suited to cater for the European consumer, a consumer who is particularly con- cerned about food and fibre provenance, food safety, animal health and environmental sus- tainability.”
The negotiations also signal an opportunity to explore greater collabo- ration and investment that would benefit the agricultural pursuits of both Europe and Aus- tralia.
Ms Simson said statis- tics from the Australian Bureau of Agriculture, Resource Economics and Science showed trade in agricultural goods with the EU was underdeveloped.
“In 2016-2017 Austral- ia exported about $3.8 billion worth of pro- duce to the EU, while we imported agricultural goods worth more than $4.7 billion.
“This is a significant deviation from Austral- ia’s usual agricultural trade pattern, with Aus-
tralia being a net food exporter with all other major markets.
“We have an opportu- nity now to increase our exports to the EU.”
Ms Simson said con- tinued improved market access with a variety of trading partners was crucial to Australian farmers.
“Australia exports about 75 percent of its agricultural produce and our farmers are among the least subsi- dised in the world,” she said.
“The liberalisation of trade and securing pref- erential market access is therefore a priority for the NFF.”
Ms Simson said Aus- tralian farmers were al- ready benefitting from preferential market ac- cess achieved through recent FTAs with Chi- na, Japan and Korea.
“We’re also hope- ful the Comprehensive and Progressive Agree- ment for Trans-Pacific Partnership will soon be ratified and begin to deliver benefits to farm- ers,” she said.
“Trade is good for our farmers, our regional communities and the national economy as a whole.”
NATIONAL
Know someone who would be interested in this newspaper?
Visit our website to add them to the posted hard copy or digital flipbook mailing list for FREE!
www.poultrynews.com.au
Page 10 – National Poultry Newspaper, June 2018
www.poultrynews.com.au