Our purpose is to elevate the local food, beverage and fibre industry, and help our businesses meet the challenges of the local and global marketplaces. We do this by providing access to training, business reviews, group buying, export advice, up-to-date information, major events and more. Advocacy is key to our role and we work to influence senior decision makers and government policy in the best interests of our partners and our industry. We also provide a single contact point between our members and all levels of government, consultants and training providers to maximise opportunities and minimise duplication of effort. Central to everything we do is consultation. We listen, ask and collaborate with our businesses to make sure we deliver on our promise. Our goal is always to ensure the best outcome for our partners and the regional industry sector we serve. The Food and Beverage Growth Plan: Melbourne’s North (2014), a report aiming to increase productivity, competitiveness, collaboration and drive innovation in this key manufacturing sector, was launched by the Hon Lily D’Ambrosio MP, Minister for Industry, in April 2015. The plan identifies the potential to grow the food and beverage sector in Melbourne’s North by an extra 7000 jobs and increase turnover from $2.6 billion to $5 billion over 10 years, if all recommendations are adopted. The key recommendation was creation of a powerful regional industry body – a Melbourne’s North Food Group – to provide vision and leadership for the regional food and beverage sector, which comprises over 400 individual businesses. This new group builds on the foundations provided by the Plenty Food Group, an entity co-funded by the cities of Hume and Whittlesea.