Partners in Business: The Outback Spirit Supply Chain Model

Robins L¹*

1. Robins Environmental Consulting, Canberra, ACT, Australia

This paper focuses on an operational business and community development model, the centre-piece of which is the not-for-profit Indigenous Australian Foods Ltd (IAF), as a procurer of bush foods, and its associated Outback Spirit brand for retail and food services markets. The IAF comprises seven Aboriginal owned organisations (representing about 300 communities) generally spanning different geographical and climatic zones. It is envisaged that each organisation will grow, collect and/or procure native foods for sale through IAF and directly to local markets. Currently, bush foods comprise only a small part of the businesses of these member organisations. While committed to developing bush food enterprises, capacity of the member organisations to participate has limitations.

This investigation indicates that the Outback Spirit supply chain is a unique business model, well suited to developing working partnerships with Indigenous and non-indigenous people. At present, the business model itself is part reality and part aspiration, but has the elements needed to become fully operational over time. The flexibility in the business approach allows partners to participate at a level that matches their capacity and enables their involvement to evolve through experiential learning and in changing circumstances.

The model embodies the needs of an emerging industry, where a step-by-step process is required and where the markets are uncertain and risk-taking and compromise is necessary. While bush foods is not necessarily the main activity of many of the supply chain members, the foray of each organisation into bush foods as a new business development is often supported by the successes of their other business streams, enabling greater risk taking and cross-subsidisation.

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