Tancredi Foods was started by Glen Findley and Ben Shanley in April 2004 with the idea of making prepared meals for motels and restaurants. We originally worked together when Ben was the manager and Glen the head chef at Moore Park Inn in Armidale, NSW. During this time the restaurant Archie's on the Park was the first fine dining restaurant in the New England and North West to be listed in the Good Food Guide. In the same year Glen won Chef of the Year in the HMAA Awards for Excellence.
We started out by refurbishing a small sandwich shop in Charlestown, a suburb of Newcastle. For the first year we operated the gourmet sandwich shop as we developed the product and worked out how to cook, chill and vacuum seal successfully and develop recipes.
In April 2005 we took on our first customer, a motel in Belmont who offered room service for the first time. A product in standard clear pouches with an Officeworks sticker on the front. Over time we continued to develop the product, introduced better packaging and expanded the range offered. We now have customers from Melbourne to Rockhampton in nearly every town throughout Eastern Australia producing over 3,500 items each week.
In the beginning of 2009 we started construction on our production kitchen in Beresfield and opened in May. This facility has enabled us to produce a more consistent product and offer more options to our customers including making most products gluten free.
We achieved our HACCP accreditation at the end of 2010.
In Mid 2011 we decided to use our expertise in producing a premium product to design meals for retail customers. New packaging includes CPET trays so we can put a complete meal together. These can be microwaved or reheated in the oven. We wish to produce a high quality meal like you would cook at home, but don't have time. Proper food and proper portions traditionally made by chefs.
We hope you enjoy our food.
Ben & Glen
