ARC

Our commitment

To improve access to Food and Essentials and other wanted merchandise to people living in remote communities by using our expertise to improve store operations, merchandising, affordability and financial management.

We will assist in facilitating sustainable stores through sound commercial principles, delivering a better range of products and services with a nutritional focus to improve community health and quality of life. We will work to improve affordability while employing and training local staff in line with our client’s aspirations.

How Australian Retail Consultants began

In the late 1990s, The Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation identified the need for specific retail expertise to assist remote communities with improving their community stores. While there were many “consultants” with financial or commerce backgrounds there were few consultants offering specific retail support particularly with any experience in the remote communities in Australia. There were many stores in financial difficulty and many communities lacked the retail expertise to identify and rectify operational and financial anomalies. Other communities were simply looking for independent advice on how their store could be improved. Communities, however, still wanted to retain ownership, run a sustainable and reliable store and have real input into their business. This was the beginning of Australian Retail Consultants that for many years has delivered a diverse range of professional services in many remote communities and regions.

By choosing to engage Australian Retail Consultants our clients receive cost effective access to more than 3 decades of stable and continuous remote retail expertise.

While there are many “consultants” claiming expert status in the market, our point of difference is a track record of success over many years of practical experience in remote community retailing.

Range of Service

Australian Retail Consultants offers a flexible service model with experienced professional personnel in retail, finance, governance support and consulting services.

Retail Services

Australian Retail Consultants is available to clients who wish to retain control and ownership of their store, whilst enjoying the economic benefits that are generated by a well-run community enterprise. Many stores have taken advantage of this service for short and medium term assistance, with some opting for longer term partnerships.

Australian Retail Consultants provides relief management, on-the-job training and a health and nutrition focus for community stores.

When Australian Retail Consultants assists a store, we liaise with the client representatives to ensure their input is valued, and requirements and expectations are met.

Finance and Accounting

We offer comprehensive accounting, bookkeeping and payroll services. In addition to short-term support, we can also provide support for longer periods or one off services, including monitoring, stocktaking, mini audits, and performance reviews, budgeting and financial reporting to store owners. We custom financial reporting to literacy and numeracy competencies in a helpful and respectful way.

Product Range and Supply

Stores we work with are generally the only retail outlet operating within the community or region so we understand the need for the product range to be diverse to meet all needs. This includes fresh fruit and vegetables, dry groceries, meat, dairy products, as well as clothing, manchester, electrical goods and hardware. The majority of products not carried day to day by a store can be sourced through our extensive network of suppliers. We can provide information and advice on supply and assist in establishing trading terms.

Some stores may also operate take away outlets that need to offer a range of products with a nutritional balance, including freshly made sandwiches, fresh fruit, hot meals and a variety of other prepared foods.

To guarantee a reliable supply of competitively priced quality products, Australian Retail Consultants have an extensive network of wholesalers, distributors and transport companies, both local and interstate, with a choice of suppliers available to meet the collective and specific needs of our clients. This has been a crucial element in the success of our organisation, with the majority of client enterprises servicing regions that are remote and at times inaccessible.

Quality control of both the merchandise and transport services, including air, sea and road, is paramount to ensure reliable and timely delivery of fresh produce, meat, milk and other essential commodities. Australian Retail Consultants have the experience and knowledge to assist with these critical store needs.

Australian Retail Consultants can help you with:

Comprehensive Business health checks by conducting a store assessment that encompasses many of the following;
The implementation of store based, health and nutrition strategies to combat preventable disease and improve community collective quality of life.
Establishing managerial, operational and administrative procedures, where they do not already exist
Identify and address deficiencies to improve existing systems and procedures
Establishing a monitoring process and reporting system back to owners, often correcting financial problems that existed prior to our involvement
Infrastructure review to identify and address maintenance and capital infrastructure needs
Business development, strategic planning and feasibility studies
Store design, construction and fit out
Layout, merchandising, range reviews and implementation.
Monitoring or mentoring programs to assist and support store managers in the efficient operation of the business.
Staff recruitment, human resources and industrial relations support
Occupational Health and Safety advice, disaster recovery and business continuation planning.

Contact us to find out what Australian Retail Consultants can do for your community store

Indigenous Employment

Australian Retail Consultants are focused on facilitating local employment opportunities as the store is or has the potential to be a major source of employment for local people. We have facilitated successful employment outcomes for local people and all our client stores.

Across the group our client stores employ more than 350 Indigenous people, we insist on making employment of local Indigenous people a priority.

Wages

Wages are one of the few sources of independent income in remote communities.

Local staff should enjoy award conditions, without government subsidies. Wages are an operational cost to the store. In addition to this, we may consider employment of more people under the CDEP program over and above operational requirements, providing training and enabling people to take up new positions in stores as they become available.

Health & Nutrition

In remote indigenous communities life expectancies are at least 17 years less than that of the average Australian population for both men and women*. This coupled with the increased rate of medical assistance and hospitalisation in such communities has led us to look at proactive ways in which we can assist the communities in which they operate. We do this through various means; through good management partnerships and empowerment of the communities we assist in facilitating the successful delivery of food security. Food security is ensuring both access and availability to food and other basic essentials in a regular and timely manner.

Australian Retail Consultants will assist with the development of a store Nutrition Policy and strategy. The nutrition strategy has the main focus of improving the food supply to the community without removing choice. Not only is good food supply important but also education, to understand the fundamentals of good nutrition and in turn to influence consumer choice. We have access to and work with Nutritionists. Partnerships and engaging with the community are also strong components of a nutrition strategy to pool all information and not “reinvent the wheel”.
The communities reap the benefits of good reliable store operations and a positive cyclic effect of empowerment and prosperity is perpetuated.

Our Aim by implementing Nutritional Focus

Improve health & nutrition of people living in remote communities
Assist in reduction of incidents of preventable disease with a focus on diabetes, heart disease and kidney failure.
Action to break down dependency
Develop a range of local traditional foods
Create sustainable real jobs through non-subsidised employment

Activities Fruit & Vegetables

Consumption of fruit and vegetables is far below what it should be in remote communities with only 42% of people eating recommended daily intake of fruit and only 10% eating their daily recommended vegetable intake*. There is overwhelming evidence to prove that a diet high in fruits and vegetables can help prevent diseases such as coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, some major cancers, possibly hypertension and many more**. For these reasons we work with clients to target fruits and vegetables as one of the key focuses of the store and its health and nutrition strategy. Australian Retail Consultants have worked with Nutritionists to develop a core range of fruit and vegetables that stores should have at all times (within reasonable circumstances in regard to location and frequency of delivery).

Some client stores elect to have an internal freight subsidy that eliminates 100% of the freight component of this commodity group to the consumers. This subsidy makes prices comparable to Darwin prices+. We also work with our clients to promote fruit and vegetables in the communities through cultural, sporting and health events within the communities. This type activity can lead to increased consumption of fruit and vegetables as shown by increased tonnage purchased over time.

Healthy Takeaway Options

Takeaway food in some instances forms a large part of individual food consumption in remote indigenous communities. Our clients are in most cases the only provider of both supermarket and takeaway foods in such communities. For this reason it is important that there are always healthy choices available. Range should include healthy hot meals (wet dishes), corn cobs, boiled eggs, roasted sweet potatoes, salads (when ingredients available) and sandwiches.

Product placement within the takeaway is important so that healthy options are prominently displayed to encourage their purchase over products of a lower nutritional rating. Water will be the first drink that will be displayed in all walk in takeaways, followed by 100% juices and diet soft drinks.

Modern efficient equipment within takeaways is important to increase both nutrition and yield of product. Many of our client’s stores now have “Combi-steam ovens”. These ovens cook large volumes of food, but have the added advantage of moisture control. Where combi ovens have been installed deep fryers have been removed, so all chips, chicken, fish etc will always be oven baked and healthier.

Traditional foods can be part of takeaways with product such as roasted sweet potato and the newly sourced kangaroo stew. We work closely with local people to see what other traditional foods can be sourced that is relevant to the people of that region.

We work closely with the Departments of Environmental Health and the Department of Health and Community Services Nutrition and Physical Activity Division to ensure that client stores occupational health and safety, food safety and nutrition standards are meeting the Australian standards.

General Store Nutrition

Simple sugars such as those obtained through standard sugar, confectionary and sugar based carbonated beverages often make up a large component of the indigenous diet. For this reason our aim is to work with clients to promote alternatives to confectionary range in preference over standard confectionary lines. Examples include dried fruits and nuts, sugar-free gums and lollies and snack pack style fruit tubs. Water and diet soft drinks can be given adequate amounts of shelf space and promotional activities to drive sales and consumption of these products. Sugar-free product varieties such as artificial sweeteners, diet cordial and diet jams will be available as alternatives to standard varieties. Product lines that have low fat varieties such as milk, yogurt, and fresh or frozen meats we will endeavour to have low fat varieties available at all times.

Store & Community Education

Health and nutrition strategies are developed to encompass education and training of both staff and members of the community. This education occurs either at the store or in the external community through schools and community events. The means by which this education may be delivered could be through practical exercises such as cooking demonstrations or work activity demonstrations, through written or verbal materials such as posters, “shelf-talkers” and local radio, and through more formalised education such as classes.

Some client stores have appointed a Healthy Food Person. This has been instigated to have an Indigenous store worker trained with knowledge of health and nutrition. This job involves translation into Indigenous language of words and ideas; advising and referring of products and services relating to health and nutrition, internal store auditing for health, nutrition and food safety.

Some Developed Resources

Takeaway Operations Manual – Procedural manual for takeaway operators including OH&S, Food Safety, Nutrition and General Operations.
Good Food Ticketing – Shelf talkers with a good food indicator, good foods are considered those that are less than 10g Fat, less than 15g of Sugar and less than 400mg of Sodium per 100g of product.
School Based Education – Using the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Guide to Healthy Eating and associated resources
Healthy Store Tours – Healthy store tours were run in conjunction with the Schools and Festivals. These were to highlight healthy options within the stores.
Health Food Person Training – All Healthy Food staff in client stores will be trained in the principles of health and nutrition by using our already developed monitoring and healthy product promotion tools.
Cooking Demonstrations – cooking demonstration guidelines have been developed illustrating the ease in cooking a healthy nutritious meal. These guidelines and demonstrations can occur either in-store elsewhere in the community.
Store Manager guidelines on ranging and healthy products

Community Partnerships

Australian Retail Consultants believes that through effective partnerships both in the community and with support agencies that service remote communities, that greater lessons can be learnt to deliver positive impacts on Indigenous health. We encourage partnerships between client stores and local schools, clinics and shires. External agencies such as the Menzies School of Public Health, the Departments of Environmental Health, the Department of Health and Community Services Nutrition and Physical Activity Division and other equivalent Health and Nutrition Organisations.

Store partnerships can assist in the study of Indigenous health outcomes through such indicators as store turnover of healthy options. They may also allow for a free flowing exchange of ideas that allow both parties to “think outside the square” and become more effectively equipped to instigate change.

Targets

Implementation of a store Health and Nutrition Strategy, including liaison with public health nutritionists can be targeted at having many direct benefits to communities including:

improved health for women of child bearing age
reduction in number of infants born at a low birth weight
improved rates of exclusive breastfeeding for young infants
reduction in number of young children who are underweight, wasted, stunted or anaemic and overall improvement in child health
reduction of number of children and adults who are overweight or obese
reduction of chronic disease in adults including diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and renal disease '*
improved sense of community well-being associated with a healthier population

LOCATION OF CONSULTANCY STORES