bindaree food group

Our Story

1951

John (JR) McDonald left Doon Doon, a small village next door to Uki (approx. 50km Northwest of Byron Bay NSW) at the age of 16 to commence work for Herb Dunn of WH Dunn Pty Ltd in livestock and cattle buying at the Casino Food Co-op cattle yards (formerly known as the Northern Co-Operative Meat Company, NCMC). Here started his passion for the cattle industry.

1957

JR relocated to Sydney to work for the Homebush Abattoir in wholesale beef markets before commencing his own wholesale beef business under the name McDonald Brothers in partnership with his uncle, Stuart. This evolved into an independent wholesale meat company, JR Meats.

He then purchased the Uki Meats boning room that was supplied by WI Dunn Pty Ltd until 1965 when JR commenced a service kill as JR Meats at NCMC, sending beef from Casino to his boning room in Sydney.

1981

After maintaining a service kill through to 1981, JR returned to Casino to establish Yolarno Pty Ltd with his two sons-in-law John Newton and John Belbeck, continuing and growing service kill agreements with NCMC.

1989

Yolarno Pty Ltd purchased the South Gunderimba Abattoir along the Wilsons River in Lismore NSW. JR’s wife, Norma, named the site Bindaree Beef.

1995

Bindaree purchased the Inverell abattoir (originally established in 1951 as the Northwest Abattoir Pty Ltd).
We expanded the site's capacity from producing 500,000 kg/week to 1 million kg/week. This site continues to be Bindaree’s primary facility and head office today.

2001

Securing a partnership with Aldi was a catalyst for our business. This allowed us to create a dedicated value-add room to our main site at Inverell, increasing our tailored solutions to retail customers with more specific cuts.

2014

Merging with meat export industry leaders, Sanger Australia Pty Ltd, expanded our in-house distribution to more than 50 countries and took Bindaree directly to the international market.

In the same year we also opened our China office, a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (WFOE), which allows us to import in our own name and sell directly to wholesalers, retailers, hotels, and restaurants.

2015

We purchased the Myola Feedlot in Croppa Creek NSW, establishing a strategic opportunity to bring consistent grain-fed cattle into our supply chain. This acquisition completed our fully integrated 'Paddock-to-Plate’ supply chain that we are today.

2017

We expanded our international presence, opening an export office in Hong Kong to supply retail customers 759 and Park N Shop shelf ready beef direct to consumers.

2018

Due to growth in our retail-ready business, we set up a stand alone value-add facility in Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast. The business rebranded to Bindaree Food Group, representing the broadening of our service beyond beef and bringing our team together with our values of Culture of Care, Agility, Exceeding Expectations and Openness.

2021

We opened a cold storage facility in Brisbane which gave us strategic access to export markets via Brisbane ports and proximity to service our Burleigh Heads site and Australian wholesalers.

2023

We acquired the Monbeef processing plant in Cooma at the foothils of the Snowy Mountains. We intend on increasing our production capacity and customer base, targeting US, Indonesia, and Malaysia markets.

In the same year we broadened our capacity to service international markets by opening offices in London and Tokyo.

Future

As we continue to explore opportunities for expansion in Australian domestic and international markets, we remain committed to making our quality products more accessible to more people.