About Us
Our Families Story
After a period of time he decided to begin growing in glasshouses – mainly Tomatoes & Capsicums, on the families Buronga property, which was purchased in 1956 . This property is still owned by the family, and is a symbol of the journey that the family has been on together – and the strength that remaining united has created.
At this time, the family itself was also growing, with the birth of 4 young boys – 3 of whom are still heavily involved in the running of the Simfresh business & one who has continued to grow Citrus for Simfresh for over 30 years now.
The family grew up in Buronga – living a great, very humble life, while still continuing the traditions of their past lives.
As the three brothers – Joe, Tony & Mario grew up – they went to school in the mornings, and helped their mother and father at night in the glasshouses. Hard work started at an early age.
Once the school years were finished Joe, as the oldest of the boys started to take leadership of the business, and with the wisdom of their father Larry, and the support and hard work of his brothers, they decided to move away from glasshouses and vegetables – and started focussing on Citrus.
Joe married his wife Elena in 1982, and the following year his brother Tony married Carmel in 1983. Straight away the ladies joined the business & worked hard packing the fruit & keeping the packing machine running.
Mario never married, but has been involved in the business since the beginning – and is everyone’s favourite uncle.
The early days were tough – it hard work starting a small Citrus packing shed from scratch, in 1991, outputting roughly 150 boxes a week, and wondering how they were going to sell them. They were pioneers for the family – working hard to create something – with Joes vision & leadership, they started selling fruit in the Melbourne Market – Driving the fruit themselves to the growers market, selling the fruit off the truck, driving back to Mildura that day, and working that night.
As time went by, Joe & Elena had two children, and Tony & Carmel had 2 children as well. These kids were taken into the packing shed in their prams, and sat there while all parents kept working. They literally were in the packing shed from birth!
As time went by the volumes increased – Simfresh started packing the fruit off neighbours and local growers. This in turn meant that the shed had to increase in size, and new machines had to be added to the existing packing line.
Having the family involved in all levels of the business – gave the Simfresh brand a good name in the market – based on quality & consistency.
As the third generation grew, they would finish school in Coomealla and come home, go into the shed, and help their parents fold boxes and trays for work the following day. Hard work was in their veins from an early age – and this was a great recipe for the success that Simfresh has seen since.
As volumes increased over the years, the need to find new markets also increased, so Joe looked to Export markets and local Supermarket chains to help take the fruit being produced. This was the next big step in the history of the Family business.
Relationships were built, growers were confident in the family, and were happy to provide increased volumes, as they purchased more farms in the area. This took care of supply requirements, and under the careful eye of Elen and Carmel quality was consistant, leading to customer confidence and increased orders on the front end.
Mario managed the relationship with our larger customers and made sure we were able to support them when they needed it. Mario managed to forge life long relationships with some of the buyers for these customers.
Staff numbers increased, packaging requirements increased, and so did the need for trucks to pickup the fruit. Tony always loved trucks, so he started building a fleet of trucks that could manage to pick all the fruit up. Still in this role today, tony co-ordinates with, in many cases, the same growers from way back then, to pick-up the fruit and drive the trucks.
As the third generation came of age, Larry jumped into the business first – going straight into the Packing Shed, and introducing new ideas and technology to the shed. As mentioned, Larry had been in the packing shed from birth, so had a complete love of the industry, the shed, and the farms.
Straight away he started learning new ways to do things – while still learning a lot from the older generation about how things worked. Larry started looking at different varieties, different machines, different post-harvest options, and many more ideas.
Amanda is Joe & Elena’s second child, and went on to complete school at Coomealla, achieving a high score at the end of year 12, she owed it to herself to go to University – where she studied International Business, and started learning about Exporting.
Now, with over 20 years experience in Exporting – she is well known around the world for selling Australian Citrus – continuing many relationships that were founded with her father, as well as new relationships built on trust, respect, quality and doing the right thing.
Jonathon is Tony & Carmels son, who also joined the business, and assists Amanda with Export.
Larry married in his early 20s, to Christine, and they went on to have 6 children over the next 10 years. Neadless to say, Christine had her hands full growing up the fourth generation, so did not involve herself in the business. These kids have now grown up, and are all at school – so Christine has now jumped in and is helping more in the administration side of the business.
Amanda was working in Sydney, exporting produce out of the market. She met Luke, who had also been working in the Sydney Fruit & Veg Market for nearly 10 years. They married and had a child. When their son was born they agreed to move back to Gol Gol and join the family business. They then had one other child
Luke had quite a lot of operational experience in Sydney and was able to help upgrade systems, work on productivity, and develop new computer systems to manage the business as a whole, as well as bringing new efficiencies to the business.
The third generation was now fully involved in the business & over the next 10 years we saw huge growth. Larry wanted to diversify and expand into Queensland so that Simfresh could supply citrus for 12 months a year. He found a farm in Monduran – that was quite run down and had plenty of bare land.
He spent the next 3-4 years bringing the farm back to life & then Joe went up there, and helped design the new blocks and designed the irrigation, pumps, and earthmoving.
This farm is now one of the best citrus farms in Australia & is producing some of the highest quality Australian Citrus that is being sold around the world.
After the success of our expansion into QLD, we then purchased another large farm in Renmark, South Australia. We purchased this farm in 2021. This farm was a logical next step for the family and has brought increased family supply into our supply chain.
Finally in 2023, The family went back into Queensland. This time into Bundaberg. Purchasing a 1 hectare glasshouse – going back to where it all began. This farm was a strategical move, for two reasons. One, we wanted 12 months supply of figs, which we achieved, and two, also meant that we had a location to build our second large packing facility – for our Queensland fruit.
Part of the property, also came with the Alloway Fruit Market, which Christine now runs. It is a place that celebrates local produce & products. It displays the best of the Bundaberg region, and serves a great coffee and home made treats. Christine always loved cooking, and baking cookies and cakes, and these are on display up there.
Now in 2026, the family finds itself in a position where it has grown from 150 boxes a week in Gol Gol, to roughly 2.3 million units Nationally a year, and growing. We have 2 packing sheds, farms in 3 different states, a 1 hectare glasshouse, and a small retail shop.
There is plenty of work for the fourth generation to carry on with in the coming years.
