Argyle’s China strategy

APM was born from Argyle Pastoral principal Lachlan Graham's frustration with being a price taker and who, in 2006, launched the company which now sells directly to households, food service, boutique supermarkets, all of Australia's largest independent retailers, branded products in Coles, and has begun infiltrating the Asian market.

"We started because we were frustrated with lack of control with price, the lack of control with where our products were going and lack of control with any future directional financial planning with budget and farm management," Mr Graham said.

His wife Andrina joined the team in 2007 where her marketing and public relations background has seen the brand's exponential growth from days flipping sausages at farmers markets to promoting the brand in Hong Kong.

The family's history in beef production dates back nearly 80 years, running one of the oldest Angus genetic lines in the country.

Fourth-generation farmer Lachlan now manages the APM beef breeding herd that consists of 1250 Angus cows.

The Grahams' long history in beef production has helped the business pitch its hormone and chemical-free meat on sustainability, traceability and carcase quality that truly offers a paddock-to-plate experience.

However, depressed prices and inflated production costs motivated Lachlan and Andrina to ensure the grassroots company succeeded.

Eventually APM leased a mothballed abattoir site at Harden and invested in processing machinery that shifted the focus from supplying butchers to retail - selling predominantly to online consumers and restaurants from 2009, with a focus on growing the direct to retail market.

It was the trigger point for growth that saw the processing operation go from six employees to 35 in two years.

APM now supplies more than 200 independent, boutique supermarkets across the country including Coles, Supabarn, Harris Farm Markets, Thomas Dux Grocer, Supa IGA, Foodworks and organic health stores.

Last December they launched their products in Hong Kong and anticipate exports to Asian markets within six months. They've opened an office in HK and will target shipping orders for high end retail/food service and wholesale directly.

Next week, APM will commission a new export plant at Bomaderry to fill orders to China that is expected to process 280 bodies of beef a day, and 3000 lambs a week.

Beef will be sourced from the Grahams' farms in nearby Shoalhaven and Harden, while they have been building direct contracts with some Southern Highlands and South West Slopes producers.

"We have a strategy of alighting with quality growers and making the stock purchase flexible and beneficial for the producer," Mr Graham said.

"We want our livestock supply groups to receive the best market price at a farm gate comparison and in turn feel proud to be part of our story."

The new processing plant will be industry leading in innovation and robotics with leading equipment that promotes traceability, control, consistency and yield management, Mr Graham said.

"We will only process prime animals and high-value animals to add value as much as we can," he said.

Lachlan attributes APM's growth and success to on-the-ground customer feedback when they performed in-store demonstrations to promote their meats.

"We've learnt from hard work and grown with our feet on the ground and tongs in our hand," he said.

"We've learnt from the consumers... every weekend we weren't working on the farm we were cooking sausages and steaks trying to get people to try our product and grow our business.

"As much as it was a painful experience, it was invaluable learning what consumers from what demographic want."

He said consumer feedback was also critical to the Asian launch where they have had to reduce the portion size to "give them a product they want".

"We realised three years ago if we didn't have a China strategy, we didn't have a business strategy at all," Mr Graham said.

"We've got a focus on China now with my brother (Bryce Graham) relocating his wife and three children to Hong Kong so we expect to be in China's high-end retail market in the next six months."