In August last year, Beam Suntory (now Suntory Global Spirits) revealed it would be parting ways from Coca-Cola Europacific Partners in mid-2025 and announced they would be creating Suntory Oceania, a $3 billion drinks partnership with sister company, Frucor Suntory. Last month, non-alc beverage production kicked off at Suntory Oceania’s Queensland manufacturing and distribution facility, the largest single FMCG investment in Australia in over a decade. And last week, Suntory Oceania debuted Suntory House at SxSW Sydney, to share the Suntory spirit with Australia’s drinks industry for the first time.
According to Mark Hill, Suntory Global Sprits Oceania Managing Director, “We're moving from months of planning and we're now into execution mode. Our new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility is up and running and we're right into building our new sales organisation, which has started to engage with customers around our plans for the second half of 2025 and beyond.”
Industry veteran, Gordon Treanor has been appointed as Suntory Oceania Sales Director - Licensed to lead Suntory Oceania’s route to market.
Gordon Treanor at Suntory House
“We've obviously mapped out our plans to make sure we're ready for day one, which is the 1st of July 2025,” he said.
“We're well advanced with all our plans for Suntory Oceania. Our state-of-the-art facility in Ipswich in Queensland is operating and is close to full completion, and now we're busy recruiting and assembling our best-in-class route-to-market and sales team to support our brands here in the Australian and New Zealand marketplaces.”
Drinks Trade caught up with Mark Hill and Gordon Treanor at Suntory House. The immersive activation was an opportunity for Suntory Oceania to share its plans and progress with its industry partners.
“With Suntory House, we wanted to give our partners an understanding of the Suntory legacy and a glimpse of the future in terms of what we're going to be building and launching in the middle of next year,” said Hill.
According to Gordon Treanor the reception had been enthusiastic.
“Customers from across the drinks industry have joined us at Suntory House and the feedback has been fantastic,” said Treanor.
“We’ve enjoyed having the opportunity to connect and share the aspects of Suntory that make us unique.”
A fully immersive experience, Suntory House brought to life the spirit of global company and offered insights into the values and objectives of the partnership.
“There was a focus on sharing the Suntory legacy. Suntory has a wonderful 125-year history, which includes a fearless commitment to innovation, as well as a dedication craftsmanship and sustainability,” said Hill.
“We also showcased our portfolio of premium brands such as House of Suntory’s luxury Japanese whiskies of Yamazaki, Hibiki and Hakushu in there. It also has the Roku, Haku and Toki brands.”
The activation served to reaffirm Suntory’s core values of Growing for Good, Yatte Minahare, and Giving Back to Society. Yatte Minahare, the favourite saying of Suntory’s Founder Shinjiro Torii, translates to dream big, take challenges, and never give up, which Mark Hill says is reflected in the new $400 million multi-beverage manufacturing facility in Ipswich, Queensland.
“The Ipswich facility is now up and running," said Hill.
"The delivery of this facility is an amazing achievement, especially when you consider that its construction occurred during a challenging time logistically, yet has remained on track and in-line with our original plans.”
Treanor added, “We've experienced some headwinds in the industry of late, as we've seen a cost of living crisis and pressures on the economy hit. But the drinks category is incredibly strong and we see a lot of opportunity for growth in the marketplace over the coming years.”
Suntory Oceania's Ipswich facility
Alcohol production is expected to begin at the facility next year, in line with the partnership go-live. Once this occurs, RTD products for the Australian and New Zealand markets - including future innovation - will be produced on site. The facility will also serve as a warehouse for imported products.
According to Hill, the investment in the Ipswich facility supports a large-scale business, that is future focused.
“We wanted to have the capacity for future growth. The Ipswich facility will support our ambition to have a dynamic, agile innovation agenda,” said Hill.
“We are also excited to be setting a new benchmark for sustainable manufacturing through our carbon-neutral Ipswich facility, which includes a power purchase agreement with Queensland’s CleanCo, 14 kilometres of solar panels, sustainable heating and cooling technology and onsite waste management and water recycling facilities.”
Momentum at Suntory Oceania is expected to continue to build over the coming eight months in preparation for the launch of the multi-beverage business. Over this time, the drinks group will continue its national recruitment process to finish filling the 400 incremental positions across Australia and New Zealand. Collectively, the Suntory Oceania team will oversee two local manufacturing sites, five distribution centres, and 40 market-leading brands.
“We're well advanced in recruiting our route to market team and our sales and commercial team,” said Treanor.
“We will continue to recruit in the coming months. In the sales team alone, we're looking at recruiting more than 130 people in Australia. We’re building a best-in-class team who are passionate, driven and diverse. A team to help us design and build a route to market that's going to unlock future growth for our amazing brands and portfolio.”
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To learn more about recruitment opportunities at Suntory Oceania, visit https://www.suntoryoceania.com/.
To discover more about Suntory House, click here.
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