It appears Vegemite is not to everyone's taste after all.
The company which makes the famous spread still hasn't found a buyer for the factory where it is made.
It could make for an unsettled 100th birthday for the Aussie icon next year.
Bega Cheese announced back in June it wanted to sell the Port Melbourne home of Vegemite and some of its other spreads like peanut butter.
US snack food maker Mondelez (Ritz, Cadbury) sold the Kraft factory, along with its branded products, to Bega for $460 million in 2017.
The former Kraft factory at 1 Vegemite Way in Port Melbourne is in a landmark location it used to share with GM Holden, where its first cars were built.
Bega hoped to make about $150 million from the 36,915sqm factory sale and immediately lease it back on a long-term deal.
Bega's bosses were forced to tell shareholders this week the deal had still not been made.
"The structure of the sale and leaseback proposals being sought would enable Bega Cheese to continue to manufacture Vegemite and other products at the site under a long-term lease arrangement," the company's annual meeting was told.
Shareholders were told Vegemite's home had been classified "as an asset held for sale" on the group's balance sheet.
"The sale is anticipated to be completed before the end of June 2023."
That mightn't be so bad then, the actual birthday invites have gone out for October 25, 2023.
MORE READING: Food supply chain survives a drenching.
Bega wants to free up capital by selling the old factory which helps produce the 22 million jars of the yeast extract made for sale each year.
Most Australian homes are believed to have a jar of Vegemite in the pantry.
Spreads like Vegemite are seeing a 5.2 per cent spike in sales, Bega Cheese has reported.
Vegemite was invented by chemist C.P. Callister in 1923 when an Australian food manufacturer requested a product similar to British Marmite.
Beaufort in western Victoria is claiming to be the home of Vegemite, opening a part-time museum ahead of the centenary, saying Dr Callister was born in nearby Chute in 1893.
The Fred Walker Company, which would later become Kraft Food Company, hired the young chemist to develop a spread from one of the richest known natural sources in the Vitamin B group - brewer's yeast.
Bega has appointed Colliers as exclusive selling agents for the sale and law firm Addisons is acting as advisor.
The Port Melbourne factory occupies a six hectare island site in the Fishermans Bend urban regeneration precinct, about 5km from Melbourne's CBD.
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Chris McLennan
ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Career journalist. Multi award winner.
ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Career journalist. Multi award winner.
