About Us

Friend & Burrell specialise in supplying high quality food items at sensible prices to restaurants, catering companies and fine food retailers, as well as exports to Scotland, France, United Arab Emirates and the United States.

For some time we have felt that there were excessive margins on high quality food such as vanilla and, since commencing vanilla distribution, we have seen the wholesale price in Melbourne drop from over $600/ kg to under $300, ie a drop of over 50%!

We source, wholesale and export product such as wild Caspian Sea caviar (Sevruga and Oscietra), farmed caviar from Russia, vanilla pods from New Guinea, fresh Australian, French and Italian truffles, and Iranian Sargol saffron.

Simon Friend has been involved in seafood throughout his business career. He was raised in a fishing family and over the last 20 years has been importing and exporting seafood - his most recent venture was in Sulawesi, Indonesia to develop an export market for sashimi grade tuna. Simon sources all of our raw materials to maintain the highest quality and also manages our export market sales.

Bryan Burrell has a 30-year background in importing and distribution of consumer goods, particularly sporting goods and clothing. His companies have represented and distributed products in Australia from world-class brands such as Yonex, Donnay and Lotto. Bryan is General Manager and oversees the administration of all aspects of the business.