How’s this for an honours list?

• Winner of the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant of the Year
• Senior Australian of the Year
• Honorary Doctorate from the University of South Australia
• Author of 11 books
• Star of multiple cooking shows
• Order of Australia (AM)
• Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)
• Public company name with multiple products to her credit

Maggie Beer is an icon of the Australian food industry. Her larger-than-life personality and likeability have endeared her to a range of Australians from budding chefs to aged care occupants. 

Maggie has backed her own skills and played an important role in encouraging people across this country to try their hand in the kitchen. She also can take credit for introducing the verjuice to the Australian kitchen.

She also happens to be the only Australian with a self-named public company.

Not bad for someone who left school at 14 years old. Now, Beer sits down with me for the latest edition of Success and More Interesting Stuff. We discuss her life before food, those first years operating the (now) world famous Farm Shop in South Australia, and what lies ahead for this Australian treasure.

TIME CODES

0:00 - Intro3:00 - Early life18:40 - Early career28:20 - Entrepreneurship in the food industry38:40 - Transition to the financial world48:10 - Other passions