This Week in the Market – 22 March 2022
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| In this week’s Market News: – Recent 40 Years of Service Award Recipients – 2022 Melbourne Market Golf Day – Warehouse Parking Market News Recent 40 Years of Service Award Recipients  Congratulations Vince Calavetta for being the latest 40-year inductee. Vince was surprised by his two sons Mark and Leigh who nominated him for the recognition. The owner of East End Hire, Vince has contributed to the market immensely over the past four decades.  Last week, Ross Ferrinda also received the 40 Years of Service Award in memory of the late Bernard Hyett, with 2022 marking Bernie’s 40 year anniversary in the market. If you are approaching 40 years in the market or have already reached the milestone, we’d love to hear from you. Download and complete the 40-year service award form from the website. 2022 Melbourne Market Golf Day Last Friday we were able to celebrate the first Melbourne Market Golf Day since 2020! The rain held off, the food was delicious and drinks flowed. Attendees had a great day out, all while raising vital funds for DEBRA Australia. Thank you to everyone involved in making the day possible and everyone who donated to the cause by; attending the event, purchasing raffle tickets or supporting the fundraising BBQ earlier this month. The total amount raised is still being calculated, but whatever the figure, all funds raised will go toward supporting those living with the rare skin blistering disease Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB).     Invoice Payments To assist the accounts team in ensuring your payments are directed to the correct account, please include the Customer Reference Number when paying invoices. You can find the Customer Reference number at the top right corner of your invoice, pictured below.  Pallet Cages Two new pallet cages have been added to the Market site, making it even easier to drop off and pick up plain pallets. Market users are reminded that dumping pallets will incur an infringement of $165. The below images shows the location of all current pallet cages.  Warehouse Parking With Access Card renewals currently taking place, MMA and ESR are reviewing all market user access permissions. With parking congestion having the potential to cause an unsafe working environment around the warehouses (pictured below), any Market Business/User identified as not having allocated parking linked to their account may have their Gate 1 boom gate entry access cancelled. Users without a designated parking bay will only be able to access the market through the Gate 1 turnstile (pedestrian access only) and parking will be required in P1 until they visit the Customer Service office to request parking bay allocation. For further information please contact Customer Service on (03) 9258 6123.  Access Card Renewals The MMA has issued access card renewals for 2022. However, business owners have until the end of March to remove any inactive access cards from their accounts. To be eligible for a refund, you must remove any necessary access cards by Thursday, 31 March. With the launch of the My MMA Portal, the process of removing unwanted access cards is now available to complete online with a simple click of a button, reducing unnecessary form filling. Watch the below tutorial to see how simple it is to remove access cards via the portal. If you haven’t set up your business’s My MMA Portal account, contact Amanda Flannery at aflannery@melbournemarket.com.au or 0428 910 182 to nominate a business representative and confirm business details.  Tasting Display Stand  The Victorian A better choice! team has recently purchased a branded display stand that can be used for a range of activations including; – In-store food tasting – Launching seasonal produce – Events, exhibitions, and roadshows – Other in-person marketing activities The A better choice! display stand is portable, easy to assemble and disassemble, and is available to all A better choice! retail members to use for their own marketing activities. Please reach out to Zac Egan to book the stand for your business. Branded Tote Bags  We are currently seeking expressions of interest for purchasing A better choice! branded tote bags. The tote bag purchase price will be approximately $1.25-$1.50 plus GST (price may change pending total order quantity). A better choice! is using its national buying footprint to help keep ABC merchandise prices low despite soaring demand for goods created by COVID19 and related shipping inflation. If you would like to order Tote Bags please send us an email here by March 31 to secure this low price, with delivery aimed for June 2022. A reminder, we also have a limited number of ABC premium quality Jut Bags in stock via Art and Style, which can be co-branded. Please speak to Rahul or Zac to organise today. New Recipe Cards  We have received an order of brand new recipe cards featuring fresh and vibrant recipes that your customers will love. Zac will be in the Market at 6am next Thursday 31st of March in front of the Customer Service Centre. Please stop by to say hi, collect your recipe cards and discuss anything else A better choice! related. Certificate III in Greengrocery There is only one week left to secure Government funding (up to $28,000) for enrolling any new employee or staff member that has recently changed employment status (part-time to full time) in the Certificate III in Greengrocery. The next round of students will commence the course in April, so be sure to register now. For more details or to check eligibility, contact Theresa Hunt on 9258 6191 or email theresa.hunt@melbournemarket.com.au. Cancer Council – Food Fight Campaign Cancer Council Victoria has recently launched its latest campaign – Food Fight. Food Fight is a state-wide campaign to protect Victorian children from unhealthy food and drink advertising where they commute, learn and play. All children deserve to grow up in environments that support their health and wellbeing and set them up for the best start in life. Yet, our kids are being hit with at least 25 ads for unhealthy food and drinks every day. This advertising influences what kids eat, want to eat and what they ask for, leading to poor diets and putting them at risk of 13 types of cancer and other serious diseases later in life.Join the growing community of parents, experts and organisations calling for action to protect our kids from unhealthy food and drink advertising. Visit cancervic.org.au/foodfight for further information. Industry News Seasonal worker program rollout begins to take effect Fruit Growers Victoria (FGV) has today welcomed the continuing rollout of the PALM scheme to alleviate workforce pressures for Victorian fruit growers. FGV Chairman Mitchell McNab said that the program formally known as Seasonal Worker Program had assisted several growers across the Goulburn Valley and Southern Victoria. “About eight growers have utilised the program in the Goulburn Valley so far. Overall, 400 workers have been brought out on this year’s program intake, an increase from around 100 last year. We’re hopeful that this rate of expansion can continue.” Click here to find out more. Global Overview Melons AND Watermelons  All is not well on the global melon and watermelon market, even if there is some relief in sight as the global pandemic ends. In many places the high cost of production has led to a decrease in production in favour of more profitable crops, as has been done in Spain. As well as high production costs, high transport costs and the ongoing conflict in Europe are also having a negative effect on the melon market. Only in Australia are there notable positive developments, as the consumption and export begins to bounce back after the slump caused by COVID-19. For most other countries, the season will certainly be interesting. Click here to find out more. Melbourne Market Job Board  Do you have a vacancy to fill in your business? Email submissions@melbournemarket.com.au for the position to be placed on our online job board. Looking for a new role? Check out the online job board via the button below. View full online job board ShareTweetForward Ask the MMA If you’ve got a question for the MMA email it to: submissions@melbournemarket.com.au. Follow us  |
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