The Thomas Foods facility in Lobethal is situated on Ridge Road, on a large site on the eastern side of the town. In 2003 the old Lobethal abattoir was bought by T & R Pastoral. This company had been founded in 1988 by Chris Thomas and Bob Rowe. By 2007, as well as local staff, there were 45 Vietnamese immigrants employed by T & R at Lobethal, on special visas as skilled workers.
The firm provided English lessons, the Lobethal Primary School had extra staff for the children, and the Adelaide Hills Council obtained grants to help them settle in. The employment of migrants continued in later years.
The Thomas family took complete ownership of the company in 2008, and changed its name to Thomas Foods International (TFI) in 2013. In January 2018 a fire destroyed the meat processing line at the company’s Murray Bridge abattoir. The company transferred the work to their sites at Lobethal and at Tamworth in New South Wales, redeploying 340 of their workers to Lobethal, where a second shift was put on. To cope with the increased activity, special arrangements were made to allow B-double trucks to access the site.
A huge new facility near Murray Bridge was ready in 2023. The company practises vertical integration – ‘from farm to family table’ – with farms and feedlots, transport, abattoirs, export and retail facilities. It remains a private company, a family business, with Darren Thomas, son of Chris Thomas, as CEO, and is now the nation’s largest privately-owned processor of red meat. It has branched into seafood and vegetables. The company is now global, with operations in the USA, China, Japan and Europe. The International Head Office is on Fullarton Road in Rose Park, Adelaide.
The Lobethal abattoir takes lambs, mutton and goat. At Lobethal itself, the company has contributed to the community by upgrading sporting facilities in what is now called Thomas Foods International Park.
Sources: Courier, 13 June 2007; Murray Valley Standard, 22 January 2018; Advertiser, 24
January 2018;
https://thomasfoods.com
Wikipedia: Thomas Foods International
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