Who is Anni Brownjohn?
Anni Brownjohn is an award-winning organic food entreprenuer and founder of Ozganics.
Here she tells the story of how Ozganics began.
“I founded Ozganics in my regional NSW town of Murwillumbah in 1999. The impetus was triggered by a several factors. Firstly, my son suffered food intolerances as a young child, forcing me to be an avid label reader. I was incredulous of the amount of everyday foods that are ladened with artificial flavours, colours and preservatives. It was quite frightening to have a child whose behaviour would swing from pure sweetness to wild animal in a matter of hours after seemingly healthy packaged food.
In addition, my daughter is lactose intolerant and my husband gluten intolerant. Boy, that’s enough of an incentive alone!
The second reason was my absolute disgust at not being able to purchase Australian made fruit spreads at the local supermarket. That really hit a chord. We are such an innovative country. We have fruit. Why on earth wasn’t someone producing these every day foods?
Lastly, I am a cook. My mother and mentor taught me the art of simplicity and cooking from scratch. I was forever, experimenting with flavours, textures and focused on naturally healthy and organic meals for my family and friends.
After years of winning prizes for my jams and sauces, I decided to let my entrepreneurial streak shine. With no formal qualifications, I madly attended short courses on topics such as nutrition and naturopathy, read every book on organics, food production, business and health I could get my hands on and spent countless hours creating and testing for my first range of certified organic sauces and jams under the OZGANICS brand.
I built the organic company from scratch. My dear father, a retired engineer, helped me design some of the machinery and build the factory. At the same time, with a small team, I developed new products, sought out domestic and international markets and opened international offices.”
