Cooee lands Qantas deal for native snacks on flights

Cooee Native Superfoods has become the exclusive Indigenous food supplier to Qantas on domestic flights during National Reconciliation Week, placing 150,000 of its Nan's Jam Drops on services across Australia.

Made with Davidson Plum, a native Australian ingredient, the snack is being served across the airline's domestic network. The rollout gives Cooee exposure through one of the country's largest consumer travel brands.

The business was founded in 2023 by Wiradjuri woman Terri-Anne "Tezzi" Daniel. Since then, it has expanded its retail and supply presence in native foods, with distribution through Woolworths Metro, Ampol Foodary, Drakes, Foodland, SPAR and selected IGA stores.

For Daniel, the Qantas deal is more than a sales channel. It is also a step toward building a business that can meet large-volume orders with consistent supply.

"Every time someone picks up one of our cookies on a Qantas flight, that is reconciliation happening. Not in a boardroom. At 30,000 feet, flying across Country," said Terri-Anne "Tezzi" Daniel, founder and chief executive officer of Cooee Native Superfoods.

The agreement comes during National Reconciliation Week, which this year carries the theme All In. The annual observance marks the anniversaries of the 1967 referendum and the 1992 Mabo decision, and also coincides with the 25th anniversary of Reconciliation Australia.

Supply chain

Cooee has also expanded through the acquisition of Adelaide-based Creative Native Foods, making it Indigenous-owned for the first time in its 25-year history.

The purchase adds a long-established native ingredient supplier to Cooee's operations and broadens its grower network. Creative Native Foods supplies hospitality, food service and tourism businesses, including Journey Beyond.

South Australia is becoming a larger part of the company's supply chain. Ingredients including saltbush, wattleseed, coastal rosemary, quandong and muntries are sourced and processed there, while Cooee's retail presence in the state has expanded through Drakes, Foodland and IGA stores.

Daniel said Indigenous ownership shapes how value is distributed across the native food sector.

"Native foods come from Country. They carry tens of thousands of years of knowledge. For us, Indigenous ownership of this business is about making sure that knowledge is respected and that the value it generates flows in the right direction," Daniel said.

Retail reach

The company has moved beyond specialist native foods into broader consumer retail channels. Its products are now stocked nationally across supermarkets, convenience outlets and airline catering.

That wider reach is significant in a category where native ingredients have often appeared in limited runs or premium food settings rather than in mass-market distribution. By supplying a national airline and supermarket chains, Cooee is putting products made with native ingredients in front of a much larger customer base.

The Qantas arrangement also highlights how procurement decisions can shape visibility for Indigenous-owned businesses. In this case, the airline's domestic flights give Cooee access to hundreds of thousands of passengers over the period.

At the same time, the acquisition of Creative Native Foods gives the company more direct access to ingredients and processing in a market where continuity of supply can be a barrier to growth. Under the new ownership, the focus is on strengthening relationships with growers across Australia, including First Nations producers.

Daniel said commercial strength remains central to the company's broader aims.

"We are a business. We need to be commercially strong to do any of the things that matter to us. Qantas backing us, and the retailers who have come on board, that is what makes the rest possible. The goal is an industry where Indigenous people are running the table, not just sitting at it," Daniel said.