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THE MARKET
Vegemite is a truly iconic Australian brand and its
unique heritage is unmatched by any other spread
or perhaps even any other Australian brand.
Vegemite has always been around, it’s a part of
growing up happy and healthy in Australia – part
of our DNA, and consumers naturally associate it
with their childhood.
Families have always eaten Vegemite. Parents
want their children to like Vegemite so it can be
passed on to future generations, making Vegemite
muchmore significant than just their own childhood
memories. LovingVegemite makes you part of the
biggerAustralian family – a link across generations.
Not that its enjoyment is restricted to family use
only; in the Second World War Vegemite was in
the trenches alongside the Diggers.
Vegemite is produced in Australia at Kraft
Foods’PortMelbournemanufacturing facility. This
has the capacity to produce 235 jars of Vegemite a
minute, and more than 22 million jars are sold in
Australia every year.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Mention Vegemite to any Australian and you are
likely to find instant recognition. There are bald
facts about Vegemite, such as the fact that 70
percent of it is consumed at breakfast, and most is
eaten on toast. But facts alone cannot convey the
full flavour of this unassuming black paste.
Vegemite is one of the world’s
richest known sources of B complex
vitamins, especially thiamine,
riboflavin, niacin and folic acid.
HISTORY
At the beginning of the 1920s, the
Fred Walker Company had a
successful business making, selling
and exporting food products. Its
owner FredWalker decided that it was
time to tackle the concentrated yeast
spreadmarket, and in 1923 he hiredDr
Cyril P. Callister to develop anAustralian
yeast spread.
In a laboratory at the Albert Park factory Dr
Callister, who incidentally became Australia’s
leading food technologist in the 1920s and ’30s,
experimentedwith brewers’ yeast from the Carlton
&United brewery. By July 1923 he had developed
the spread that Walker wanted. The product was
ready but the name wasn’t.
FredWalker turned to theAustralian public and
launched a nationwide competition to find a name
for his newfood. The prize pool held a very tempting
fifty pounds, and the name selected was Vegemite.
An English yeast spread dominated the
Australian market at the time, and shoppers were
reluctant to add Vegemite to their baskets. Sales
languished. The product was actually renamed only
four years after its introduction, and relaunched as
“Parwill”. Thiswas an attempted play onwords: “If
Marmite… then Parwill”was the intended pun, but
it didn’t sell the product.
Walker went back to his first choice of name
when he became convinced that the problem was
getting consumers to try the product. He launched
a vigorous two year coupon redemption scheme
and gave away a jar of Vegemite with every
purchase of another product in the Fred Walker
Company range.
The campaign worked: consumers tried the
product, and loved it. Baby health centres across
the nation were even recommending it as an ideal
food supplement for both babies and nursing
mothers. Australians of all ages continue to love
Vegemite today. Its unique flavour could almost be
called the taste of Australia.
Just before the outbreak of the Second World
War,Vegemite gained official endorsement fromthe
BritishMedicalAssociation. It was then advertised
in theAustralianMedical Journal, and doctors were
increasingly recommending it as a
nutritionally balanced food. During
the War, supplies of Vegemite to
civilianswere rationed as theArmed
Forces bought it by the seven
pound (3.2kg) container.
During the post-war “baby
boom”, wartime goodwill translated
into a boom in Vegemite sales. In
1950,Vegemitecameunder theKraft
Foods Limited umbrella, and the
company has consistently
reinforced the food value and
“Australian-ness” of Vegemite.
Soon after that, the song which
was to secure Vegemite’s place in the
Australian heart forever was introduced. This was
the “Happy Little Vegemites” song.
THE PRODUCT
The original Vegemite concentrated yeast extract
recipe devised byDr Cyril Callister in 1923 remains
virtually unchanged. Vegemite is rich in protein and
minerals and a rich source ofVitaminB. B complex
vitamins in Vegemite are essential to the body’s
use of carbohydrates.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
Vegemite has become so identified with Australia
that there has been a tongue-in-cheek proposal of
its label as the new national flag.
Vegemite has seen innovation with the launch
of aVegemite ‘Snackabouts’variant in 1999which
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