Golden North has officially started making ice cream at its new Murray Bridge factory, marking the beginning of a new chapter for the South Australian company and the former Beston dairy site.
The first ice cream production has begun at the Maurice Road processing plant, which Golden North bought last year after Beston Global Food Company was placed into liquidation.
The company is planning to expand production at the larger facility, with cheese also set to be made at the site in future.
Golden North managing director and co-owner Dimi Kyriazis said moving production to Murray Bridge would bring the business closer to South Australia’s central milk-producing region while providing significantly more room to grow.
The company has transferred the ice cream-making equipment and recipes from its former factory at Laura, although the Murray Bridge plant has greater freezing capacity.
For its first year at the new site, Golden North will source milk from another company while it assesses its requirements before considering direct contracts with dairy farmers.
Golden North expects the Murray Bridge operation to employ about 20 more people than its former Laura factory, bringing employment at the new site to around 100.
Several former Beston employees have joined the Golden North team, including head of operations Paul Connelly, who has worked at the Maurice Road factory through several changes of ownership.
The start of production follows months of work to transform the former cheese plant into Golden North’s new manufacturing base.
