Allied Pinnacle Ballarat flour mill staff celebrate its 100th birthday with Ballarat site manager Paul Panozzo,  Ballarat mayor and former mill employee Des Hudson, Allied Pinnacle CEO David Pitt and Allied Pinnacle finance’s John Murray kneeling. Photo: Allied Pinnacle

ALLIED Pinnacle’s flour mill in Trench Street, Ballarat, yesterday celebrated its 100th birthday with staff past and present.

The mill remains one of only four major flour mills in Victoria, supplying flour and bakery products to Victoria and beyond, and one quarter of its employees have been employed by the mill for three decades or more.

Built in 1923 by Otto Muller, the mill has gone by previous names including the Garden City Flour Mill, Bunge, and Allied Mills, before operating as Allied Pinnacle for the past six years.

Ballarat site manager Paul Panozzo has worked at the mill for 32 years.

“The Ballarat mill has a number of long-term employees, so the centenary means a lot.

“Throughout our long and historic tenure, we have faced challenges, disruption, and uncertainty, which we have managed to overcome.

“This is due to the wonderful Ballarat community and of course the incredible staff, past and present who carry great pride in work they do.”

City of Ballarat mayor Des Hudson unveiled the plaque marking the centenary.

“I worked at the flour mill in the quality control laboratory, after I finished VCE in 1987, until I went on to join Victoria Police in 1989.

“My father George Hudson worked at the flour mill, in charge of the silos and grain receiving for 33 years, while my elder brother Danny, grandfather George Hudson Senior and two uncles all had periods of employment at the flour mill.”

Allied Pinnacle has made ongoing investments in the Ballarat mill, ensuring it remains agile and responds to consumer demands.

Over the years, it has milled many different types of mixes to those more specialised and niche, with a focus on organic grain, rye, and durum.

“We are deeply grateful to the Ballarat team that works tirelessly everyday to fulfil Allied Pinnacle’s mission of creating market-leading solutions from grain to table,” Allied Pinnacle chief executive officer David Pitt said.

At Allied Pinnacle, we bake the future from flour so it’s great to reflect on the past 100 years of Ballarat and I look forward to the next 100.”

The milling industry generally combines traditional skills with modern technology to produce a wide range of flours, and milling is one of the oldest trades in the world.

Source: Allied Pinnacle

Along with Manildra Group and George Weston Foods’ Mauri, Allied Pinnacle is one of Australia’s three leading flour millers.

Allied Pinnacle’s other Australian flour mills are located at Tennyson in Brisbane, Ballarat and Kensington in Victoria, Tamworth in NSW, Mile End South in SA and North Fremantle in WA. The mill and other Allied Pinnacle assets have been owned since 2019 by the Qualitas Food Infrastructure Fund, while the milling and baking business is owned by Japan’s Nisshin Seifun Group Inc.