KEY POINTS:
A food-fight is brewing in the United States as the Australian meat pie makes increasing inroads into the American fast-food market.
Two of the biggest Australian meat pie companies, Four 'N Twenty and Vili's, are trying to expand into the US.
Their aim is to have Aussie meat-pie
carts competing on busy Manhatten street corners with the city's famous hotdog stands.
Vending machines will sit alongside Coke and chip machines, offering hot meat pies for hungry Americans on the go.
Fans at sports venues such as New York's Yankee Stadium or Los Angeles Lakers' Staples Centre will be able to buy Aussie pies instead of hotdogs, nachos or hamburgers.
At stake are billions in export dollars for Melbourne-based Four'N Twenty and Adelaide's Vili's.
"It's the greatest Western market in the world and it's untapped," says Joshua Kearney, who is leading the Vili's push in the US.
"There are a few people in the US that make their little boutique pies, but there's no one like Vili's who can do it on our scale."
When Americans think "pie", it is dessert - apple, pumpkin or banana cream pie.
Many turn their noses up at the thought of meat in a pie and both Australian companies agree the key is getting Americans to try their wares.
"Americans can get a hot pocket or Jamaican beef patty, but when they eat the Australian product their first comment is 'Well, it tastes really good'," says Edward Beshara, from Florida, who is heading Four 'N Twenty's expansion bid.
Vili's Kearney, who lives in Los Angeles, has had a similar experience.
"We have to tell Americans it's a savoury and not a sweet," he says.
"We tell them it's like a shepherd's pie. Because there are a lot of Irish and British descendants in America, they understand that."
Americans also take a cautious approach to tasting a meat pie.
"They always want to break it open and have a look at what's inside," Kearney says.
"They're worried about what's in it and they'll ask you 10 times over exactly what's in it. You tell them it's beef and they ask 'What cut of beef?"'
Expat Australians are not so picky.
Vili's sold 4000 pies for US$7.50 ($10.80) each to the mostly Australian fans at last year's G'day USA Australian Rules exhibition match in Los Angeles between the Sydney Swans and the Kangaroos.
Vili's stocks were sold out before half-time, an amazing feat when the crowd for the game was 3000.
Four 'N Twenty and Vili's have also been spreading the word in Los Angeles at one of the main G'day USA Australia Week events - Australian Made Food and Wine Trade Expo.
Its pies were among 200 Australian food products showcased for 400 representatives from some of America's largest supermarkets and retailers. The two previous G'Day food expos have generated more than $1 million in new American sales for Australian companies.
"Pie exporters think the key challenge to them will be overcoming US food and labelling regulations," says Australia's Trade Commissioner in Los Angeles, Kylie Hargreaves.
"But the main obstacles are the American consumer's lack of familiarity with meat pies and then the sheer scale of the US marketplace."
Kearney, the 27-year-old chief executive of his family's company, Aussie Imports, which has the US rights to distribute Vili's products, has secured a distribution deal with American food giant US Foodservices.
"It has 78 distribution centres across America, so that will give us some serious penetration in restaurants, pubs, clubs and sports venues," he says.
"Anyone across America will be able to get a Vili's pie."
Kearney is also teaming up with Hollywood celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck to offer Vili's pies in LA's premier indoor sports arena, Staples Centre, which is home to the LA Lakers and Clippers basketball teams and ice-hockey team the LA Kings.
Beshara is also pursuing US sports stadium deals, as well as race tracks, convenience stores, airlines, universities and amusement parks.
Beshara, an Australian who has lived in the US for 27 years, owns the Four'N Twenty US distribution rights through his company OzePie.
Vili's and Four'N Twenty reject claims that they are bitter rivals in the United States.
"We're competitors in Australia, but we don't see it the same way in the US," Kearney says.
"It's a huge market with 300 million people. We could do business here happily and not even see each other."
- AAP
