Quality at the core: Harcourt Apples keeps growing after 'long hard road'

It's part of the hands-on approach the managing director of Harcourt Apples has continued since starting the business in 1991.

What started as a fruit and vegetables shop on the side of the Calder Highway in Barkers Creek has grown into an apple-product empire, with plenty of exciting developments in the works.

"It's been a really, really long, hard road," Mr Frost said.

"We really struggled to get our product in front of consumers.

"Back in the day, no one really cared about the quality of products that they were putting into their mouths, they really were only concerned about price.

"That's really changed for us in Australia over the last 10 years, and our salespeople really care about where food comes from, they care about supporting Australian growers, they care about the amount of sugar ... and that's really helped our brand to grow."

The business employed just 14 staff and produced a range of products from ciders, to juice, apple cider vinegar and recently started producing spirits.

All products are made on site using local ingredients.

Tucked away on the Midland Highway

In October this year the company hoped to open a new warehouse, which would more than double its storage size.

"It's funny, when you drive down the Midland Highway and you drive past our big tanks, you really don't see what's happening here, it's well hidden from the road" Mr Frost said.

"We actually have a big warehouse, 550 square meters behind our production area, that no one gets to see.

"We're building a new warehouse ... which is another 650 square meters of floor space for storage that will allow us to change some things in the factory.

"We'll have a dedicated bottling area, whereas now we bottle and press in the same room, so we'll be able to increase our volume; it's really exciting for us to have that extra space."

Mr Frost said a new commercial kitchen would be installed in the old warehouse, with a stage also built on site, making way for events, tastings and tours.

On the product line, Mr Frost said the business would launch a new low alcohol cider and would introduce new apple juice pouches to school canteens.

Since 2016, Harcourt Apples has been supplying its ciders to Crown Resorts, which was a big part of getting the product in front of people, Mr Frost said.

But for the 33-year-old business, quality was the most important thing.

That's why Mr Frost keeps driving his own truck to Melbourne every Wednesday night.

"My wife and I work seven days a week in the business," he said.

"I actually do a trip to the market on a Wednesday evening. We take a truckload of our products down to Melbourne... I get back at about 7am, unload the truck, have a couple of hours sleep, and then come back to work.

"It's not that no one else can do it, but when we go to Melbourne to buy it's all about quality, not price.

"I love doing it and I'll keep doing it as long as I can. It helps make our quality superb and I'm really proud of it; that's built our business."