Thomas Foods International

Thomas Foods International (TFI) is Australia’s largest 100% family-owned red meat processor, headquartered in South Australia. The company is led by Darren Thomas, Managing Director and son of co-founder, Chris Thomas.

TFI is a fully vertically-integrated business, with the full supply chain in-house and employing over 3,000 people globally. Today, TFI own farms across Southern Australia for both livestock and cropping, have an extensive livestock procurement team across Australia, own a cattle feedlot near Tintinara, have five processing plants, with offices and/or further processing facilities in 9 countries. With an extensive distribution network, TFI supplies Australian beef, lamb, mutton and goat to over 85 countries.

History

The company was founded as T and R Pastoral (T&R) by Chris Thomas and Bob Rowe in 1988. The company originally traded livestock and grew to include feedlots and outsourced meat processing. T&R bought the Murray Bridge meat processing facility in 1999 before then acquiring the Lobethal meat processing facility in 2004. In 2006, T&R also bought an abattoir in Western Australia and a defunct one in Port Pirie at which time it was the sixth-largest meat processor in Australia.

The Thomas family took outright ownership of T&R in 2008. In 2009, TFI merged with established US importer Foodcomm.[1] In 2010, T&R bought Country Fresh, acquiring meat processing facilities in Tamworth, NSW and Wallangarra, QLD. Wallangarra was closed in 2016, however, Tamworth remains a key facility to TFI operations.

In 2012, T&R bought a 50% share in Holco,[2] a premium meat distributor to wholesalers and retailers in Australia. A year later, T&R rebranded the company from T&R to Thomas Foods International.[3][4] TFI eventually rebranded Foodcomm to Thomas Foods International USA and acquiring full ownership in 2017.

The company added one of Australia's largest potato processors, Mondello Farms in 2013.[5] That business was renamed to Thomas Foods International Fresh Produce in 2014. In 2020, the potato processing business was sold to a competitor, Mitolo Family Farms.[6]

In 2014, TFI bought into the Iranda Beef Feedlot in Tintinara, South Australia. The feedlot's capacity was initially 3,500 head,[7] before TFI invested in an expansion taking capacity to 15,000.[8][9] TFI took full ownership in 2017 and in 2023 completed another expansion. The feedlot, now known as Southern Cross Feedlot (SCF), has a 28,000 head capacity.[10]

TFI took full ownership of Holco in 2018, rebranding the business to Thomas Foods International Australia (TFIA) in 2020.[11] Today, TFIA provide expert protein solutions to wholesale, foodservice and retail customers.

In 2020, TFI bought 50% ownership of Frew Foods International, a meat processing facility and wholesaler in Stawell, Victoria. A year later, TFI bought the meat processing facility in Bourke, NSW,[12] opening in 2022.[13][14] TFI took full ownership of Frew Foods International in 2023[15][16] and rebranded the company to Thomas Foods International Stawell.[17]

TFI processes over 160,000 head of smallstock a week between its facilities at Lobethal, Stawell, Tamworth and Bourke, and 5,000 head of beef cattle between Murray Bridge and service providers.

Murray Bridge

A fire at the Murray Bridge abattoir in January 2018 destroyed the meat processing line.[18][19][20] Over the following months, production was increased at Lobethal in the Adelaide Hills and at Tamworth in New South Wales.[21] Darren Thomas, Managing Director, vowed to come back 'bigger, better, stronger.'[22][23] In June 2019, Thomas Foods International announced that rather than rebuilding at the existing site in Murray Bridge, it would build a replacement on a new site eight kilometres away.[24]

Construction of the new facility at Murray Bridge began in December 2020.[25] With a $24million investment[26] from the South Australian and Federal Governments, the new facility at Murray Bridge was completed in May 2023.[27][28][29]

Processing Facilities

• Murray Bridge, South Australia
• Lobethal, South Australia
• Stawell, Victoria
• Tamworth, New South Wales
• Bourke, New South Wales

Office Locations

• Australia
• Canada
• China
• Japan
• Netherlands
• Middle-East (Dubai)
• South-East Asia (Singapore)
• United Kingdom
• United States of America

See also

• List of South Australian manufacturing businesses
• South Australian food and drink