Meet your advisory committee members
Over the coming weeks, we will be profiling each of our advisory committee members for you to get to know a little more about them.
This week we spoke to Leon Mugavin, from the Retailers Advisory Committee.
Your role at the Market:
I own Leaf in Elwood, and we’ve been there for 12 years now.
What do you think are important issues for the industry as a whole?
The biggest issue is to ensure independent greengrocers remain relevant in what is a ‘bubble’ of food at the moment. The popularity of cooking shows, restaurants, supermarkets, and alike are being driven by fresh produce, and as independent retailers, we need to be the most relevant in that segment of the market.
What do you think are important issues for the Market?
An important issue for the Market is about balancing the needs of all the various stakeholders to run the Market efficiently. The Market is not just about one particular group, whether that be buyers, wholesalers or growers, it’s about making it all work together.
What are you positive about for the future?
Fresh produce, coupled with a healthy lifestyle, is really on trend, and this is influencing offerings at restaurants, cafes, and what’s on TV. The growers are growing a greater variety of produce, which is great for us. We can now stock something like jujubes, and people are buying them. That would have never happened ten years ago.
Why did you want to be a member of the advisory committee?
I’m passionate about the industry, and I don’t want to see the independent sector of the industry decline, it’s also about giving back because the industry’s been great to me.
What’s something most people wouldn’t know about you?
In a previous role, I helped start the seedless watermelon industry in Australia. The first farmer who planted seedless watermelon seeds had just six plants germinate from 6600 seeds. I got involved in the whole supply chain, managing the product from seed to shop. |