With food exports from Greece in the spotlight and the ‘Go Greek’ campaign on everyone’s lips – there’s no better time to tell the story of a relatively new product finding and then sustaining its place in the Australian mass market.

That story belongs to Kalamata Balsamic Vinegar. Produced by Papadimitriou S.A. from its factory in the southern Peloponnese, its success internationally is the result of the combination of a high-quality product, a creative producer, and a knowledgeable team handling distribution and promotion to the major retailers. With its distinctively designed label, Kalamata Balsamic Vinegar sits proudly on the shelves of Coles stores across Australia.

But its increasing popularity means that bottles don’t sit around on the shelf for long. It’s fast becoming a very popular item – notable say consumers, for its unique delicate, silky-smooth balsamic tones which surpass the quality of the leading Italian brands.

Also sold in Victoria by Woolworths and with sales picking up strongly, Woolies customers nationally should also be able to get their hands on Papadimitriou’s best-selling product soon. It all bodes well for Christos Papadimitriou (31), Papadimitriou’s young CEO and sales director, who was in Melbourne recently to get a feel for the Australian marketplace, and gauge what the future might hold for his company’s other products down under.

“80 per cent of our turnover is from exports and just 20 per cent is from the domestic market. Our company’s culture was built on exports,” says Christos, whose grandfather founded the company back in 1938 in order to develop the potential of one local raw material – currants. “Kalamata is a very fertile region and currants were produced there long before olives.

“There was a traditional sweet dark vinegar produced there called glykadi which has many of the same qualities as balsamic vinegar, so there’s a long historical connection.”

70 years ago, Papadimitriou began its pioneering business by exporting currants to Britain, and today it still supplies the major UK supermarket chain Tescos with that original product. It is only in the last 15 years that the company has diversified into producing derivatives. “Until the mid 1990s it was just currants, but my father who studied wine science in Bordeaux, diversified into balsamic vinegar,” says Christos, who studied Business Management at the University of Pireaus and joined the family business in 2004.

“When we started producing we began selling just to the Greek market. Today we’re the leading brand in Greece with 40 per cent market share.” After success at home, Papadimitriou began exporting its vinegar to the Balkans, before Canada, Scandinavia, the UK and Australia. Today its sweet, tangy flavour is in 28 countries, taking on the traditional Italian brands that have been synonymous with the product for generations. It’s been six years since Kalamata Balsamic Vinegar first appeared in Australia, following a trip by Christos’ father and company chairman – Costas Padimitriou, to Sydney’s Foodpro exhibition – one of the largest gatherings of food industry suppliers and buyers in the Asia Pacific region. It was at Foodpro that Papadimitriou teamed up with Melburnian importer Archie Tsoukras of Tirnavos Imports, and retail guru – broker John Vasilipoulos.

The import and retail experts saw the product’s quality, its potential in the marketplace, and began to work with Papadimitriou to establish the product in Australia. With the UK currently the biggest importer of Kalamata Balsamic Vinegar, and Australia close behind, Papadimitriou’s export manager, Dimitris Douzantis, says that finding the right partners was crucial.

“You need assistance from people who know the main retail market, not just the ethnic market,” says Douzantis, who was also responsible for bringing Minerva olive oil to Australia. As more producers in Greece look to overseas markets, due to the downturn in retail in Greece, Douzantis says flexibility and attention to detail is key to breaking into new markets, and staying there.

“It’s not difficult for a Greek exporter if they are organised professionally. It’s completely different than working with the Greek market. You need to be flexible,” says Douzantis.

“In order to work with the mass market you have to be prepared, you have to know how to create the labels properly, ensure the scanning label works properly. Every country has different legislation, so the producer needs to follow the legislation, and create the packaging to suit that legislation, not just put a Greek label on and send it abroad.”

Christos Papadimitriou believes his company’s own investment in marketing has been key to cementing the product’s position in Coles and Woolworths. “You can’t just sell the product by leaving it on the shelf, if you do, in six months you will be delisted. You have to do promotions, advertising and tastings.

“We started in Australia in the first year with around 1000 [six-bottle] cases, now we exceed 30,000 cases. And it’s getting bigger,” says Christos. Having checked out the Australian end of the business, Christos and his export manager left Melbourne for Auckland to catch up with Papadimitriou’s progress across the Tasman.

Then it will be back to Kalamata – to continue growing a business that has not only weathered the storms of Greece’s recent and not so recent history, but continues to be a model of export success. Papadimitriou is currently presenting three new products for the Australian market – Kalamata White Balsamic Vinegar (a light and refreshing alternative to traditional dark vinegars), Kalamata Balsamic Cream (already a huge success in Greece and Finland) and Organic Kalamata Balsamic Vinegar, made from 100% organic sundried grapes.