THE EDIBLE
Circle Harvest
Formed 2007
Established in 2007 by Skye Blackburn, an Entomologist and Food scientist with a passion for sustainable food practices, Edible Bug Shop was Australia's first farmer of edible insects and is a world leader in Edible Insect farming techniques, developing edible insect products suitable for the Western diet and educating the general public about the benefits of insects as a source of food through cooking demonstrations, media appearances and collaborations.
In 2020 The Edible Bug Shop rebranded it's retail range as Circle Harvest, to provide a range of healthy and nutrient dense foods in formats that are easy to include in your everyday diets.
BUG SHOP
The Seeds of Change Accelerator program was life changing for our business. The access you get to MARS experts and mentors are something money can't buy and we feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to connect to so many of them. The program has helped us develop our business in areas we needed help in and we will forever be a stronger food business because of it.
Over the past 12 years, Skye has developed robotic technology specifically for use in insect farming in urban locations and has designed and implemented processes to extract nutritional ingredients from the insects (for example, oils, powders, mylks etc).
The business has successfully developed multiple SKUs ranging from Australian flavours, protein powders, insect salts, whole roasted insects, teas, snacks and sweets.
The program specifically helped Skye to navigate new opportunities being explored with major retailers, expansion of production capacity, supplier relationships and sales and marketing through the access to mentors, experts and dedicated business coaching.
Since leaving the program, The Edible Bug Shop rebranded itself as Circle Harvest and has seen increased consumer awareness and acceptance of this alternative protein source. Similarly, the business secured funding in 2020 to assist with increased expansion of facilities and production capacity to respond to growing demand from customers.
Circle Harvest has also developed and successfully introduced a number of new products into the market including convenient baking mixes, high protein cricket powder and cricket corn chips with stockists growing rapidly.