Footscray Food Manufacturer Expands Global Exports From West Melbourne Base

Yeshi Tadesse launched Habesha Foods out of a 200-square-metre production unit on Barkly Street in 2021 with a single injera recipe and a commercial oven she bought secondhand from a restaurant closing down in the Footscray Market precinct. By July 2026, the business employs fourteen full-time staff, holds a contract with two international food distributors, and is projecting a 40 percent revenue increase for the financial year ending this month. That trajectory has made Habesha Foods one of the more closely watched small manufacturers in the city.

The timing matters. Footscray's inner-west food and beverage sector has absorbed genuine disruption over the past eighteen months, rising input costs, a commercial rental market that has pushed average lease prices on Hopkins Street and the Nicholson Street corridor well above their 2023 benchmarks, and a consumer spending environment that has squeezed discretionary dining. Against that backdrop, businesses finding export traction are a different category of story entirely.

Building on the Footscray Market Ecosystem

Tadesse credits much of the early growth to the density of the Footscray Market itself, which anchors the business district between Hopkins Street and Barkly Street and draws foot traffic that few comparable retail strips in a city this size can match. Habesha Foods began selling direct to market stall operators at the market before moving into packaged retail, and that ground-level distribution gave the business both cashflow and real-time consumer feedback during its first two years.

The company's production facility is now registered with the Footscray Food Business Hub, a co-working and compliance support program run jointly by the local council and the Footscray Chamber of Commerce, which provides access to food safety certification pathways and cold-chain logistics advice. That program currently supports 37 active food businesses across the postcode, according to the Chamber's mid-year member report published in June 2026. Habesha Foods is one of six members the Chamber has flagged as having active export inquiries in the current financial year.

The product range has expanded from the original injera flatbread to include a shelf-stable berbere spice blend and a teff-flour baking mix. The baking mix, launched in September 2025 at a retail price point of $8.90 for a 500-gram pack, has become the strongest-performing SKU in terms of margin. A distributor arrangement signed in March 2026 now places the product in specialty grocery networks across three international markets.

What the Numbers Reflect About Footscray's Broader Economy

Footscray's manufacturing base has quietly held its ground while the city's more visible hospitality sector has cycled through closures and reopenings. The Food Business Hub's June report notes that food manufacturing within the postcode generated an estimated $62 million in output during the 2025 calendar year, up from $54 million in 2023. Small-to-medium producers, those employing fewer than 20 staff, account for roughly two-thirds of that figure.

Commercial rents are the pressure point nobody in the sector is ignoring. Ground-floor industrial units on Leeds Street, which backs onto the rail corridor in West Footscray, were leasing at approximately $180 per square metre annually in early 2024; comparable units are now being listed closer to $215, according to listings data compiled by the Chamber. For a business like Habesha Foods, a 200-square-metre footprint means that shift translates to an extra $7,000 per year in occupancy costs, a number that lands hard when margins on food manufacturing are already thin.

Tadesse is currently in negotiations to expand into a larger unit, roughly 400 square metres, within the same Leeds Street precinct, with a view to doubling production capacity before the end of 2026. The Chamber's export support program, which offers matched grant funding of up to $15,000 for businesses with confirmed international distribution agreements, is one of the financial levers the business is expected to draw on to manage the transition.

For other food entrepreneurs in the Footscray Market district, the Habesha Foods model offers a practical sequence worth studying: anchor locally, use the Hub's compliance infrastructure early, treat the market precinct as both a distribution channel and a market research environment, and pursue export only after the domestic margin base is solid. The Chamber's next intake for the export readiness program opens August 12.

This article is general information only and is not personal financial or investment advice. Consider your own circumstances and seek licensed professional advice before making financial decisions.