public company industry food and beverage founded 1946 headquarters northgate queensland australia area served multinational products over 500 number of employees 1800 parent kraft heinz subsidiaries original juice co. slogan good to know website www.goldencircle.com.au golden circle is a subsidiary of us based kraft heinz based in brisbane queensland . its main operations are food processing . contents 1 beginnings 2 operations 3 products 4 presence 5 takeover bids 6 production changes & job loss 7 references 8 external links beginnings edit process workers at work at the golden circle cannery 1947 golden circle began operations in 1947 after construction of the main canning factory at northgate was completed . the new facility was opened by the then premier of queensland the hon edward hanlon . the company was originally called queensland tropical fruit products with golden circle used as their brand name . golden circle was initially part of the committee of direction of fruit marketing in queensland cod . in 1964 under the leadership of bernard flewell smith and percival savage the cannery was established as a separate business . it was split off from the cod by an amendment to the fruit marketing organisation acts . 1 initially the company processed and canned pineapples and produced fruit jams . over the years production has expanded to include other canned fruit and vegetables fruit cordials juices carbonated beverages and baby food . as of 2009 golden circle gc ceased to be an australian owned company . the board and shareholders of gc agreed and sold all of their shares for 313 % more than they were trading at prior to the offer from us corporation heinz . 2 golden circle was one of few remaining australian food companies being sold by australian farmers to international companies . operations edit australian farmers supply more than 180 000 tonnes of fruit and vegetables annually to the company for processing . the fruit crops of which pineapple is the largest come from the sunshine coast hinterland maryborough woodbury and northern queensland . vegetables are largely sourced from the lockyer valley west of brisbane . crops that are not grown in queensland are supplied from interstate . golden circle operates the world s largest steam peeler and new beetroot processing lines a a 20m food hall enabling a move into the development of new products such as baby food and a tetra pak plant that produces more than 42 million litres of fruit juices and drinks annually . golden circle also operates a robotic blow moulding facility capable of producing 50 million plastic cordial and other beverage bottles every year . golden circle employs a large number of people which varies seasonally between 700 and 1 700 . in addition to its main processing operation in brisbane golden circle also owns the original juice co. plant at mill park on melbourne s northern outskirts and a fresh fruit packing operation in griffith new south wales . products edit golden circle manufactures more than 800 products including shelf stable fruit and vegetables in cans and glass jars fruit juices cordials soft drinks jams conserves and baby food . pineapple products now account for only 24 % of the company s total product range . presence edit golden circle factory at northgate queensland 2008 the main production facility is at northgate a northern suburb of brisbane . sales offices are located in every australian state as well as new zealand . australia is the principal market for golden circle products but they are also exported to new zealand and other pacific countries . takeover bids edit on 26 september 2007 coca cola amatil announced it was making a conditional takeover bid for 100 % of the companies shares . 3 on 6 october 2008 heinz launched a golden circle takeover bid . phillip cave advised that the take over bid of 1.65 per share 288 million in total was attractive for all shareholders particularly given the current difficult economic conditions . 4 the heinz takeover bid was finalised successfully on 19 december 2008 . 5 production changes & job loss edit in may 2011 golden circle announced it would move beetroot production offshore to new zealand affecting 160 golden circle jobs at the northgate plant . 6 heinz australia said it would instead invest more than 20 million at northgate to upgrade its beverage manufacturing facilities . references edit 50 years of progress the committee of direction of fruit marketing c.o.d. 1923 1973 . the committee of direction of fruit marketing qld . 1973 . p. 7 . heinz launches golden circle takeover bid . . abc news australian broadcasting corporation . article dated 06oct2008 aap 2007 09 26 . coca cola makes offer for golden circle . the age . retrieved 2007 10 03 . abc news australian broadcasting corporation 2008 10 06 . heinz launches golden circle takeover bid . abc news australian broadcasting corporation . retrieved 2008 10 06 . heinz golden circle integration . heinz golden circle integration article dated 23feb2009 heinz australia cut jobs . 1 article data 27 may 2011 external links edit golden circle website v t e heinz founded in 1869 based in pittsburgh pennsylvania ownership 3g capital berkshire hathaway kraft heinz company brands heinz beans ketchup salad cream sandwich spread tomate frito farley s golden circle greenseas hp foods daddies hp sauce lea & perrins ore ida bagel bites tater tots t.g.i. friday s wattie s weight watchers from heinz wyler s mrs. grass former brands boston market kibbles n bits people henry j. heinz founder h. j. heinz ii former ceo william r. johnson president ceo and chairman tony o reilly former ceo and chairman facilities north america lofts asia northgate europe wigan heinz 57 good things come to those who wait retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title golden circle company & oldid 741267926 categories food and drink companies of australiamanufacturing companies based in brisbanedrink companies of australiaaustralian jam and preserved fruit makerscompanies established in 19461946 establishments in australiah . j. heinz company brands navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages esperanto edit links this page was last modified on 26 september 2016 at 12 30 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation 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