Murray McCallum and Anton Masutti, the founding shareholders of Delica, Turners & Growers’ export division, have resigned from the company.
In a brief statement, Alastair Hulbert, the joint acting CEO of Turners & Growers (T&G), confirmed their resignations, and acknowledged their driving role in Delica’s development since establishing the company in 1994.
“It is with regret that we announce the resignations of Murray McCallum and Anton Masutti,” he said. “We would like to acknowledge Murray and Anton as founding shareholders of Delica. We’d also like recognise the invaluable contribution they’ve made to the company over many years.”
Hulbert said the two men were departing the company on very amicable terms. “They’re a couple of fantastic guys and we’re disappointed to lose them but they’ve got future plans and new opportunities they want to pursue, and we wish them all the very best.”
McCallum and Masutti will not officially finish with Delica until the end of May, but McCallum was able to tell Asiafruit that he is joining major Melbourne-based fresh produce distributor Valleyfresh in the coming weeks.
“Delica has become like a family to me, and it is with great sadness that I am leaving the company, but I am looking forward to the new opportunities that Valleyfresh offers,” said McCallum.
Masutti could not be reached for comment today (16 May).
McCallum founded Delica as an export company in Melbourne in 1994 and was joined in 1997 by university friend Masutti, who established an Auckland-based New Zealand arm.
After developing as an Australasian export company focused on Asia, Delica spread its wings, establishing a US export office based in Los Angeles in 1999, run by Hulbert, and venturing into exports from South America in 2003, when the company set up a Lima-based office run by Nick Fitzpatrick. Last year, Delica established an export trading office in South Africa, which McCallum laid the foundations for.
In 2007, McCallum and Masutti sold their shares in Delica to T&G, which now owns 70 per cent of the company. Since then, they have continued to play key roles in the company, McCallum in consulting on Delica’s global business and managing imports to Australia, Masutti working in the New Zealand diversified exports division.
