Advance Australian Manufacturing With Naturally Good Products

Director and Production Manager, Frank Manglaviti, and Head of Marketing and Product Development, Connie Manglaviti

2021 has marked the 35th anniversary of Naturally Good Products – a remarkable achievement for any organisation (and a milestone Integra is chasing in 2026) but also an enterprise that is highly accomplished at taking the road less travelled. So, what has it been like for them weathering the turmoils of the pandemic and coming out the other side?

Head of Marketing and Product Development at Naturally Good Products Connie Manglaviti gives us her perspective and explains the way forward for one of the first businesses in Australia to go all-in on manufacturing low-to-no-additive, gluten free foods.

AAM: In a general sense, how have the last two years been for Naturally Good Products?

Connie Manglaviti: "We were looking at doing a bit more on the export side so, from that point of view, we’ve taken a turn back to the local market due to the pandemic – keeping focused on getting supply of ingredients and making sure we can supply supermarkets and keep the supply chain going and so on.” 

“Our customers live with allergies and intolerances, so these products can be really important to them. They need to make sure they can eat gluten-free or vegan or low FODMAP products because, if they don't have them, it can impact their quality of life. It certainly made us aware of the continued importance of Australian-made products."

What are some of the hurdles that Naturally Good Products has been forced to overcome during the pandemic?

"Making sure that we're following those COVID-compliant rules and making sure our staff are feeling comfortable – that’s been a big thing. We want them to come to work and know they're looked after and that we've got all those processes in order."

"We tend to look after things in a more family-friendly way – not that I'm saying that big organisations don't but we've got to have a more direct approach, being supportive if they've got to take days off or they've got to go get their vaccinations, or if they need to talk about something. A much more personal approach probably would be the best way to describe how we’ve handled the hurdles of the pandemic."

Have there been any unforeseen positives that your business may have experienced?

“We were able to provide reassurance, as well as a sense of community, because many customers needed to be reassured they could still buy Naturally Good Products, particularly early on when everything broke out and we didn't know if supermarkets were going to be open continuously, etc. So that's been really good – to be able to connect with our customers and know that we’re mutually valuing each other.”

"We found that social media became a huge part in being able to reach out to our customers. Our brand is about making it easier for our customers to live their good life naturally and, for them, it needs to be about trust and connection.”

“In my role in marketing and product development, I saw how consumers wanted to see more content – they wanted to be more engaged with us – so we almost became our own mini media company! We've been pulled into the social media ecosystem with things like Instagram Reels, recipes, whether we liked it or not!"

Has the sharing of recipes gone both ways?

"We do get user-generated content, yeah. That's the best part – when you get customers tagging you, showing you what they've made or what they've been doing behind the scenes and connecting with us with ways of using our products – that's really fantastic when you see that. You know that the products are getting to the people that need them, and they're really living that naturally good lifestyle that we want to see them living."

“Another flow-on effect has been that there’s been a lot more people shopping online. We don't have an online store ourselves but we have partners that do, and they were really working hard behind the scenes. Again, social media played a huge part in getting customers to connect with our brand and finding those products online."

You’ve spoken about the connection with your customers – but what about fellow business owners? How have those in your network come together?

"The networking and the support we’ve experienced within the manufacturing community has been fantastic. Given we’re celebrating 35 years as a company, Erika [Hughes, from Integra Systems] reached out to me and asked if we’d like to share our story in an article to help inspire other manufacturing companies. That's how this conversation started. It came from both of us as females in manufacturing wanting to connect and shine a light on our areas.”

“We both [Erika and Connie] have a design-thinking approach to manufacturing. Naturally Good Products makes specialised, value-added food products, similar to Integra making value-added equipment or parts, and it often comes from us getting insights into our customers' particular needs or having empathy for what they're doing or what they're experiencing and then coming up with solutions. So, I think that's what we share together.”

“Naturally Good is a member of  Melbourne’s  North Food Group, which is a cluster of food companies in the northern suburbs, but the City of Hume and Melbourne’s North Advanced Manufacturing Group (MNAMG) is also trying to get us to network with manufacturers in other industries in the area as well, so we can all have this ecosystem and create value in what we do, and then create jobs."

How would you say your company has used the pandemic as an opportunity to emerge stronger?

“Before COVID, if you talked about manufacturing or Australian-made, the message didn't always resonate with people, so the pandemic has really put the spotlight on locally made. It’s drawn attention back to why we have manufacturing here – why we create products here – but being Australian-made is not enough anymore; it has to be more value-added.”

“What’s happening at Naturally Good Products is we are moving more and more to a circular economy. People often see waste as waste, not as a resource. Circularity connects with our brand because we're in that natural food space and we don't want to see more and more things like soft plastics going into landfill. The City of Hume is encouraging us to learn more about it; to be more involved in initiatives and work more closely with companies like Close the Loop, which takes things like soft plastics and converts them into products like concrete aggregate. I think the circular economy and designing out waste will be something that will be more of a focus for all our companies.”

“I see manufacturing as a very human experience, it's a human endeavour. We have to embrace design-thinking, creating something for someone else or solving a problem – human problems.” 

Find out more about Naturally Good Products at https://www.naturallygoodproducts.com.au/

The Naturally Good Products story is part of Integra Systems' Advance Australian Manufacturing (#AAM) initiative. Read all about it and see how you can participate.