From raspberry jam to rainbow shelves: The JimJam Foods story
Steven van den Bergh and Maggie Mackenzie from JimJam Foods
More than 25 years ago, a simple dare prompted graphic designer Steven van den Bergh to make his first-ever jar of raspberry jam — a spontaneous experiment that would unexpectedly spark a passion for preserving and, over time, grow into a thriving business.
“I went to a food evening, and there were some jams and preserve companies there, and me being known for my enormously large mouth, I said, ‘Oh, look, they're all right, but I'm sure I could do heaps better than that.’ And so, there was the resounding, ‘Well, go on then…go and do it’.”
So he did. A friend put Steven’s first nine jars of jam on his café counter. Within days, they were gone. “I came back a couple of days later and they weren't there and I said ‘Johnny, what did you do with my stuff?’ And he said, ‘I've sold it all!’ and I was like ‘Oh wow!’”
That humble beginning sparked the birth of JimJam Foods, a business that has since grown into a well-known producer of vibrant, small-batch jams, sauces, condiments and pastes, crafted in northeast Victoria. Not long afterwards, Steven’s partner Maggie came on board — and the business really took off.
“She had a food distribution business and so she took the product on and sold it all through Victoria,” says Steven. “She was one of the first sort of high-end food distributors.”
Eventually, they moved out of Melbourne and embraced rural life. “We moved to a farm in northeast Victoria around 20 years ago, which was seen by all our friends and relatives as something absolutely insane… And we're still here.”
Their country home doubles as JimJam’s base of operations — and their much-loved farm gate, which they describe as their “showroom”. It’s not about profit, says Steven, but about connection.
“We don't try and make money off it. It's more to let people come and try all the products… There's not many places left around where you can go and try 40 different things and it doesn't cost you a cent, and you're going to have a lovely time there."
And, he explains, it’s also great for feedback on their products: “The person is standing there in front of you, tasting what you make and their feedback is genuine and honest…It's very good in that sense to get that validation. And it's nice for people to meet the people who actually own a company…these are the hands that put it together.”
At its heart, JimJam is about flavour over flash.
“Our most important value is making really great tasting food. That's really what it's all about. Just making really good product.”
But their branding does turn heads too. Steven’s background in design means the packaging pops — and has set a trend that many now follow.
“Back when I designed that brand, there wasn't anything like that. There was negligible colour. The only thing that might've been colour coded back then was Twining's tea tins… But that’s now the standard. If you don't have colour coding to your packaging, then there's something wrong. And look, I’m not saying that we created it, but we were at the forefront of that style.”
That design is rainbow-like on the shelves, thanks to their large product range. From small beginnings, they now have nearly 40 products in rotation. Some, like their beans, are supermarket favourites. Others, like olive pastes, have become surprise hits in Asia. Steven says: “We've got five different olive products and three or four different pastes that are really big sellers… The olive products do really well in Asia, which is, I find quite bizarre, but it's a taste that their palates like.”
With their large product line, people are often surprised at the size of their factory. “People are always, always amazed at how physically small our factory is compared to what it actually puts out,” he says. “And the fact that it is quite a hands-on production… they imagine it's going to be like a Heinz baked beans factory or something and take up acres of area and have robots and things. It's really as much a kitchen as it is a factory.”
However, new machinery is on the horizon — not to cut corners, but to cut exhaustion. “We're looking forward to a little bit more machinery to make our lives easier. It doesn't take away from the quality of the product, but upping our mechanisation is something that’s thrilling to everyone that works here because we mightn't be quite as exhausted at the end of the day.”
Their small team is already making waves beyond Australia. With products selling in Malaysia and Singapore — and hopes for Japan next year — the Asian market is a key focus.
“Asia is sort of where my heart lies, I suppose,” says Steven. “There's big markets there… China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, they're all changing more rapidly than we can imagine.”
They’re also exploring new product categories, with lollies potentially on the cards.
“We're looking into the lolly side of things… There's not a great difference between being a jam in a jar to being a pastille in a packet.”
Of all the rewards the business brings, nothing beats the human connection. “Probably the favourite thing (and the thing I’m least good at!), is being at the farm gate… I've seen people enjoy what they have and be surprised by it and go, ‘Oh my God, that's great’. It's probably, after all these years, still the number one thing.”
Even for Steven, a seasoned maker and designer, that joy is unmatched. “People actually enjoying what they're consuming… of all the things, it's probably head and shoulders above anything else… maybe it even is what keeps you ticking on.”
Having weathered the toughest year in their history, Maggie and Steven are grateful to still be standing — and thriving.
“Surviving the economic downturn has been fantastic… We’ve come from being, ‘Do we open next week or do we not?’ to now being sort of stabilised, and we're looking to the future.”
With resilience, realism and a deep love of good food, JimJam continues to bring big flavour from their little corner of northeast Victoria — one jar at a time.
To find out more about JimJam Foods and explore their products, visit jimjam.com.au