I was sceptical we needed a "Black Friday" sales pitch but canvassed the hairdresser crowd yesterday and was blown away by the enthusiasm and planning they were putting into their Black Friday shopping! While I thought of Black Friday as unlucky Friday 13th they clearly saw it as an opportunity for starting (and hopefully finalising) their Christmas shopping this Friday 27th November.
Black Friday follows upon Thanksgiving in the US - in the 19th and 20th centuries apparently Thanksgiving parades were often sponsored by large department stores (like the Macy parade now) and Santa might make an appearance at the end of the parade, signalling the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Since 2005 it is commonly the highest turnover day of the year for American retailers. Cyber Monday is the following Monday (so this year 30th November) and seems to have been coined by the National Retail Federation, recognising growing ecommerce sales on the Monday following Black Friday.
What about Australia? With greater inreach from American retailers, Black Friday sales have grown this decade. Apple led the way, with significant Black Friday discounts and expedited shipping to Australia. Now most Australian retailers offer some Black Friday promotions. While we lack the holiday marker to launch the Christmas shopping season, apparently Australians now spend about $3.9 billion in these sales!​
So the hairdresser crowd offered this Black Friday tip: go to your favourite online stores, put your choices in your wishlist and on Friday logon early and checkout your shopping! Sounds dedicated to me.

Lovely to add to our Tasmanian retailers, adding Hill Street Grocer Latrobe as stockists. The Hill Street group are steadfast supporters of small Australian businesses, bringing innovative ingredients to their customers. We look forward to a great business relationship as the summer heats up! Thanks to the team at Hill Street Grocer Latrobe.

Thanks to Susan Parsons for a terrific write up in the Canberra Times Food and Wine section sharing one of our favourite recipes. Lovely to feature there and also to read of other local delicacies.
Read all about it here

Spring is finally here, with the prospect of longer days and warmer nights - heavenly! Beautiful salads suddenly seem enticing and right for the season. Vibrant colours, plant-rich and super good too. 
This Apple and Feta Salad​ with Pomegranates is beautifully coloured and showcases our Black Garlic White Balsamic Dressing​ beautifully. 
Apple and Feta Salad with Pomegranates
Ingredients
Fuji apple - thinly sliced skin on
2 cups Mesclun salad greens
1/2 cup Rocket leaves
100g feta
2 tbsp each of sunflower and pumpkin seeds
1 Pomegranate - remove ruby seeds (known as arils) - method here
2 tbsp Garlicious Grown Black Garlic White Balsamic Dressing


Method
Place the greens in a large bowl, drizzle with Garlicious Grown Black Garlic White Balsamic Dressing. Divide among individual plates, sprinkle with the feta, apple, seeds and pomegranate seeds and serve immediately.


Seems an opportune moment to launch a special offer - 3 bottles dressing​ (usually $19.95 each) for the price of 2 (now $39.90). The dressing is sweet without being too syrupy and complex black garlic flavours and receives 5 star ratings. With a long shelf life, the pantry will be ready for Christmas entertaining. Available while stocks last. 
Recent happy customer, Peter said "Love this product. Third time I have purchased it in past few months, Find i can use it for most of my cooking needs or simply as a dressing".

Grateful Farmer & Sun Gympie are stocking Garlicious Grown. They combine fruit and veg retail with a cafe. They are our kind of people with this ethos:

Lovely to be part of SUPA IGA Tully - we are excited to be featured there and look forward to a long relationship together. Thanks Craig

Thrilled to be supplying the Tarra-Bulga Guest House in Balook with our range of black garlic products. If we ever get back across the Victorian border, looks like a great spot to combine bush walking, comfortable accommodation and good food. Thanks Nina 

An Australian team based in Fremantle launched Plastic Free July in 2011. They challenge individuals, families and businesses to reduce single use plastic in their lives. Last year, they reported that 250 million people took part in 177 different countries trying to reduce plastic waste.

This is a significant issue for businesses, especially those selling online. When you last opened your online order, how much single use plastic packaging tipped out? Getting your order to you in perfect condition is the ambition of every business, hence the generous packaging. What do you do with your packaging? Apparently only 10% is recycled so it is likely the rest is sitting in landfill. 

More businesses are moving to recycled packaging. We collect clean packaging (from supplies that come to us) or from friends and neighbours who are shopping hard in COVID and reuse the packaging in our orders. If our customers then recycled the packaging again who knows how far it could go? Happy Plastic Free July - have a look at plastic packaging in your life and see where things could be reused. 

We have chatted previously about the opportunity we have as part of the Farmers2Founders program. We are now alumni (very posh we know) and still benefiting from their tremendous support. The latest is featuring in their case study program, detailed on their website here. The image is from a Pitch Night held in Melbourne at the end of the formal F2F program. All the involved businesses (food and agritech) pitched their business opportunities to a keen audience. 
Our business coaches at F2F continue to link us up with industry experts, opening doors that have initially appeared "very closed". We are exploring the use of black garlic as an ingredient (developing a larger scale supply channel as part of our artisan business). Hard work may pay dividends, but it certainly helps to have friends with great contacts! - thanks F2F.