Leaders
Keith
Keith de Vries started out as a Food Technologist with a passion for stainless steel and people.
Having sold his flavour business in 2000, Keith started True Foods in a tiny factory producing high quality French crepes. With his infectious passion – and never-say-no attitude – Keith has overseen the transformation of a pipe dream into a true Australian manufacturing success story. The Big Kahuna (as he is affectionately known) remains a major shareholder and Director of the business, and is firmly focused on the major opportunities for growth that present themselves every day.
With Lean Manufacturing a priority for True Foods, it is no wonder that Keith’s favourite quote is…
""Good, better, best - never let it rest - till your good is better - and you’re better, best.""
Mark
Mark Thurlow is joint owner and Director of True Foods, having joined the business in 2007 through a merge of the Empower Foods and True Foods operations. Mark started Empower Foods as a health food and weight loss brand in 2002 after identifying a lack of quality products developed specifically for the Australian market. Empower was one of True Foods first clients, and it was soon evident there were some great synergies in the way Mark and Keith approached business.
Prior to this, Mark was a Relationship Manager within ANZ’s Business Banking Operations.
Mark has a Bachelor of Business Administration, majoring in Finance from Monash University, and is passionate about building an extraordinarily efficient manufacturing business that honours the principles of Innovation, Integrity, Flexibility and Respect.
Jason
Jason Baker joined True Foods as General Manager Operations & Supply chain in April 2021. He has over twenty years’ experience in the food manufacturing industry. Previous senior roles have been at George Weston Foods (Don Castlemaine) from Manufacturing Manager to Growth & Configuration Manager. Jason possesses a deep commitment to ensuring safety, quality, prioritising teams, demonstrating effective leadership, and striving for continuous improvement. As a ‘big picture’ thinker, Jason strives to build a sustainable future and pipelines of opportunity and growth to remain competitive within a forever changing environment.