{"id":680110,"date":"2026-05-19T05:10:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T05:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/680110\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T05:10:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T05:10:27","slug":"australias-largest-organic-meat-producer-hewitt-to-acquire-nolan-meats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/680110\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia’s largest organic meat producer Hewitt to acquire Nolan Meats"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia’s largest organic meat producer, Hewitt, has entered into an agreement to buy Nolan Meats, a family-owned meat processing business in south-east Queensland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hewitt, led by brothers Mick and Ben Hewitt, runs more than 100,000 cattle across 2.25 million hectares in New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nolan Meats started as a butcher shop at Gympie in 1958, but has since grown to be one of the region’s largest private employers, including farms, a feedlot and meatworks exporting to China and the United States.<\/p>\n

Director Terry Nolan said he and his brothers, Michael and Tony, had rejected offers from Singapore, China and America to reach an agreement with Hewitt for an undisclosed sum.<\/p>\n

He said breaking the news to his 621 staff was “heart-wrenching”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s been brewing for a while, and we’ve had a little bit of illness in the family that has weighed into the sale,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Terry Nolan is proud of his family’s legacy. (Supplied: Nolan Meats)<\/p>\n

“I think it’s important to leave the industry with good memories … the time’s right to make the decision.<\/p>\n

“It’s difficult, but we’re comfortable and proud of what we’ve done.”<\/p>\n

\"Five<\/p>\n

Brothers Michael, Terry and Tony Nolan (seated), with Ben (left) and Mick Hewitt at Nolan Meats. (Supplied: Hewitt\u00a0)<\/p>\n

The company’s operations will continue unchanged while the deal is finalised.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Family values\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Nolan family’s portfolio includes its abattoir and meat processing and packing plant, farms, a Cinnabar feedlot, and worker accommodation.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Mike and Ben Hewitt (right) before mustering begins at Narwietooma Station. January 2024. (ABC: Kristy O’Brien)<\/p>\n

Hewitt is the largest organic meat company in Australia<\/a>, operating the massive 1.12-million-hectare Narwietooma aggregation in the Northern Territory as well as retail and export businesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Nolan said the business will continue to operate in Gympie, where it is the region’s largest private employer.<\/p>\n

“We wanted to sell to a company that wanted to respect the Nolan family legacy, and that’s been weighed heavily in our decision-making,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We didn’t want to go to, probably a bad term, but a corporate raider.<\/p>\n

“We wanted to go to a business of family values and we’ve negotiated what we think is a good deal for them and a good deal for us.”<\/p>\n

Since it was founded by the late Pat and Marie Nolan, the business has expanded into a multimillion-dollar vertically integrated operation, processing about 150,000 cattle per year.<\/p>\n

\"Historic<\/p>\n

Butchers Pat Nolan and Viv Odt with cashier L Lewis and customer Ms W Neal at their Mary Street butcher shop in 1961.\u00a0 (Supplied: Gympie library)<\/p>\n

The family has pioneered new technology, including, in 2017, what was then the largest fully automated meat chilling and distribution centre in the Southern Hemisphere.<\/p>\n

“We have all our own electrical people, our own fitters, who do a lot of our own installations,” Mr Nolan said.<\/p>\n

Starting a new chapter\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said the first chapter of Nolan Meats was with his parents from 1958 to 2001, and when they retired, the three brothers stepped up.<\/p>\n

“From 2001 to 2026, we’ve had significant growth and more than quadrupled the business in that time,” he said<\/p>\n

“It’s now time to start closing the book, closing chapter two off, and we’re excited about chapter three.”<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

Mr Nolan will join the board of Hewitt as part of the transition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hewitt Group chief executive and managing director Mick Hewitt said the proposed purchase was an ideal match between two Australian founder-led businesses with deep ties to the rural communities in which they operated.<\/p>\n

“My brother Ben and I started out as kids from the bush, growing up in a regionally founded family business,” he said.<\/p>\n

“To have the opportunity to bring Nolan Meats and Hewitt together is a great honour.”<\/p>\n

\"Boxed<\/p>\n

Beef from the abattoir is shipped around Australia and internationally. (ABC News: Bruce Atkinson)<\/p>\n

When announcing the acquisition deal to customers, Mr Hewitt said it was an important milestone.<\/p>\n

“[It] reflects our long-term commitment to strengthening capability across our supply chain while supporting sustainable growth,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The proposed transaction will significantly expand our market access [and] product range.”\"Cattle<\/p>\n

Most of the cattle processed at the plant are fed at the company’s Wide Bay feedlot at Cinnabar. (Supplied: Terry Nolan )<\/p>\n

Completion of the sale is subject to conditions and regulatory approvals, but is expected to be finalised in the second half of 2026.<\/p>\n

Expansion opportunity<\/p>\n

Mr Nolan said while Hewitt is Australian-owned, its access to foreign investment<\/a> secured capital for future expansion, which had been an issue for the family since the days of his father Pat’s butcher shop.<\/p>\n

“He got knocked back by all the major banks and he secured from, would you believe it, a local dairy farmer who had some money to invest back when the dairy was booming in the Mary Valley,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“My dad worked hard, making sure that we under-promise and over-deliver.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Sesa Metui, from Tonga, is one of the workers at Nolan Meats hired under the PALM scheme. (Supplied: Nolan Meats)<\/p>\n

He said about half of the current workforce came from the Pacific Labour (PALM) Scheme, but also included many young Australians who had come through their apprentice training scheme.<\/p>\n

“They want to be part of it and they can see the excitement of the future,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Things that may have taken us 20 years to do, I can see happening in five years, having access to capital.<\/p>\n

“It’s time to look for the next generation and trying to inspire some younger people to join this wonderful industry,” he said. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia’s largest organic meat producer, Hewitt, has entered into an agreement to buy Nolan Meats, a family-owned meat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[34443,6634,64,63,328049,31367,25980,328050,44,11942],"class_list":["post-680110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-abattoir","tag-agriculture","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-beef-processing","tag-farm","tag-farmer","tag-meatworks","tag-news","tag-sunshine-coast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}