The passions of Lester Marshall run deep. From his own oyster farm to the wider Eyre Peninsula seafood industry, Lester wants to bring ‘Australia’s seafood frontier’ to the world.
It’s hard not to blush as Lester Marshall earnestly describes his spawnless oyster brands.
First, there’s the delicate and petite Cupid, a firm and plump little morsel ripe for the picking. Then there’s the ‘not too big, not too small, just right’ Valentine oyster; the feisty, firm King oyster and the smooth and sensual Casanova. Say no more.
“Did you know that Casanova used to eat oysters before he wooed his women,’ he asks with a dead straight face. ‘He didn’t just chomp them down; he’d shuck the oyster and then ask his female companion to cup the shell to her mouth and draw the oyster from within. Then he’d kiss her and take the oyster back into his own mouth… I’ll leave the rest to your own imagination”.
Lester leans back in his chair and lets out a hearty laugh. The man who established the Coffin Bay Oyster Farm 17 years ago and today presides over 17 hectares of the briny delicacies, clearly loves his work.
It is this passion that saw him awarded an Australian Nuffield Scholarship in 2007. Sixteen such scholarships were awarded to a select group of like minded grain growers, beef producers, wine makers and cheese makers across the nation. Lester’s winning study topic of choice was “developing a successful regional brand using company branded products to drive consumer awareness and market pull.”
The scholarship included a six week group study tour of New Zealand, Ireland, France, United States, China and the Philippines mid last year; and a 10 week tour in November/December that took in China, South Africa, Spain, France, England, Scotland and the United States. Lester will leave again next month for a final solo two week trip to Japan to see how the country’s beef producers have built the Waygu Beef brand and then hopefully head to the Marshall Islands to write up his report.
Lester said the study tours have had a huge effect on him, both personally and professionally.
“We looked at what makes a country ‘tick’ in terms of food production and what factors may limit that production in the future in terms of water supplies, climate change, aging farmers and the use of genetically modified crops.”
“The study group consisted of two organic farmers, two what I’d term ‘nuclear’ farmers and myself who sits somewhere in between. So you can imagine the heated debates we had along the way! None of it was personal; it was disseminating our perceptions from what we actually saw on the ground. Often, they were two completely different things. It blew many of the perceptions we held right out of the water.”
As a result, Lester says he’s now less concerned with sweating on the small stuff, and more focussed on the ‘big picture’ for his own brand and the wider Eyre Peninsula seafood industry.
“My passion is to help develop a regional brand within a vibrant community that enjoys a relatively high standard of living and has good job opportunities for all.”
“I’d like to see the Eyre Peninsula become the ‘Barossa Valley of the sea’ where we are recognised for our premium products and get paid for them accordingly.”
The secret to achieving this, he believes, is for the region as a whole to work together to communicate its brand.
“Our region’s seafood goes all over the world, but people don’t necessarily realise that it comes from the one region. We’re still tending to identify our products from our own individual locations, rather than from the Eyre Peninsula per se.”
Lester is part of a dedicated group from Eyre Peninsula working with brand ‘scientist’ Peter Singline from Brand DNA to develop the region as ‘Australia’s seafood frontier’. Already the group has developed a committee, logos and a brand, and is currently working on a prospectus to encourage others in the industry to join.
Lester is also keen to develop ‘tasting notes’ for seafood, similar to those in force in the wine industry.
“That’s one thing I learned from my study trip. If we say we have the best flavoured and textured seafood, we have to prove it. We need language similar to wine to describe the characteristics of texture and taste.”
Lester is confident the region will emerge victorious.
“Our region is unique: we have the largest range of premium seafood products in the world in the one place. We’re all blessed with the same clean, clear waters and blue skies. So we need to promote ourselves as whole.”
“As a force we are all powerful and all conquering.”
For more information
Contact
Lester Marshall
Coffin Bay Oyster Farm
p +61 8 8685 5021
e lester@coffinbayoysterfarm.com.au
w www.coffinbayoysterfarm.com.au