Already popular with Tasmanian salt connoisseurs, Tasman Sea Salt is flavouring meals served in Virgin Australia business lounges around the country.
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Virgin Australia’s business customers can now see and use Tasman Sea Salt in the food and wine area of the lounges.
The arrangement with the airline came about through an old friend of Tasman Sea Salt founders Chris Manson and Alice Laing.
He was so enthusiastic about spreading the word, he sent the Virgin Australia’s chief executive John Borghetti a box of Tasman Sea Salt.
“We weren’t really aiming for anything. He liked it and sent it down through his team to see how we could fit into the Virgin family,” Mr Manson said.
Between them they decided the best way to highlight Tasman Sea Salt was to make it available in the airline’s 11 business lounges.
Salt flakes are displayed on bench tops in a porcelain salt pig designed and crafted by Tasmanian potter Rynne Tanton.
The salt pigs are discreetly branded with Tasman Sea Salt, so those passengers who enjoy it while waiting for their flight can pick up a postcard afterwards.
“We always liked the idea of of displaying salt in these salt pigs,” Mr Manson said.
Already supplying salt to the Park Hyatt hotel in Sydney, and through partnerships with Hudson Meat and Harris Farm, Tasman Sea Salt is expanding its reach on the mainland with this deal.
“It’s probably our biggest corporate partnership that we’ve done so far,” he said.
Tasman Sea Salt was established in 2013 and started selling salt flakes in 2014.
The salt flakes are sold at Farmgate and Harvest markets, in gourmet grocery stores, like Hill Street Grocer and Salamanca Fresh in Tasmania and on the mainland, and also online.
“We have been selling on the mainland for just over a year,” Mr Manson said.
“We’ve had a lot of support from Tasmanians already. The support from Tasmania has been great from the start,” he said.
The brand’s sea salt flake boxes have been popular since Tasman Sea Salt started, and the business recently launched flavoured salt flake mixes: wakame seaweed and pepper berry.
“We launched [flavoured mixes] just before Christmas and the response has been good. We will roll them out on the mainland in the next few months,” Mr Manson said.