A grassroots organisation that helped transform an unknown yoghurt into one of Australia’s most beloved brands is preparing for its next event.
Sandra and Henry Gosling, the founders who would go on to build Coyo, now stocked in major retailers nationally, began with a dream and a small table at Meet the Makers.
The Food and Agribusiness Network (FAN) is behind the event. FAN has spent more than a decade proving this region is Australia’s most powerful food and agribusiness community.
Now, as Australian food producers face some of the toughest economic conditions in more than a decade, the Goslings want the next generation of this region’s food businesses to have the same opportunity they did: the chance to get their product in front of the right buyer at the right moment.
“COYO exists because of one room on the Sunshine Coast,” Sandra says.
“I don’t say that lightly. When you’re facing the kind of pressures producers are facing right now – costs, margins, everything – you need more than a great product. You need the right person to taste it.
“Meet the Makers builds that moment. It built ours.”
FAN presents Meet the Makers 2026 on Tuesday, June 23, at Venue 114, Bokarina.
The event connects the region’s most passionate food and agribusiness producers with the buyers, retailers and hospitality operators who can take their product to the national stage.
And this year, the stakes have never been higher.
The economic reality facing our region’s food producers includes:
- a 70 per cent forecast collapse in Australian farm profits in 2026-27
- a $7 billion expected fall in agricultural export values in 2026-27.
More than 1100 food and agribusiness businesses across the Sunshine Coast, Noosa, Gympie and Moreton Bay face those conditions.
For more information, visit meetthemakers.au.
