Primo Smallgoods traces its origins back to 1957 when a Hungarian immigrant, Andrew Lederer (originally András Léderer), opened a butcher’s shop in the Sydney suburb of Annandale. Fleeing Europe after the collapse of the Hungarian revolution, Lederer was the son of a wealthy landowner and abattoir proprietor and had trained as an agricultural engineer and butcher. Less than a year after arriving in Australia, he began to make continental-style smallgoods, building up a business that became known as Presto Smallgoods. The company moved to new headquarters at Wentworth Avenue in Greenacre in Sydney’s west, and Lederer initially worked alongside his employees on the boning line.

While most accounts say that Lederer sold Presto to Nippon Ham in the 1980s, the brand’s ownership journey was much more complex. In 1968, Presto Smallgoods was sold to Petersville, joining a portfolio of brands including Peters Ice Cream, Edgell/Birdseye and Four ‘n Twenty Pies. Andrew Lederer continued as Managing Director of Presto and his nephew, Paul Lederer, joined the company in 1973. By 1977, Presto was making more than 150 products, employing European-trained staff from a wide range of backgrounds.

In the corporate merry-go-round of the early 1980s, Petersville became part of John Spalvins’s conglomerate, Adelaide Steamship Company (Adsteam) and Presto was merged into another Adsteam company, Metro Meat, alongside ham brands like Mayfair and Dandy. The smallgoods division of Metro Meat was sold to Nippon in 1989.

It’s not clear exactly when the Lederers bailed out of Presto, but perhaps it was precipitated by the Adsteam maneuverings. In 1985, they acquired an old Mayfair factory in Sydney’s Homebush and established Primo Smallgoods, as well as a retail business, Joe’s Meat Market, which grew to more than 30 outlets by the early 1990s and nearly 50 by 2003. Primo expanded through the 1990s, acquiring Gold Cob Smallgoods in Queensland and purchasing an abattoir at Port Wakefield, South Australia. In the lead-up to the Sydney Olympics, the government acquired the Homebush land for around $35 million, and Primo opened a new factory in Greenacre. Further sites followed in Brisbane and elsewhere.

Andrew Lederer died in 2004, but Primo Smallgoods continued to grow with Paul Lederer at the helm. In 2009, the company acquired its Victorian competitor, Hans Continental Smallgoods, with both brands continuing in the market. The Australian ownership was first diluted in 2011, when the Lederer family sold 70 per cent of Primo to a Hong Kong-based investment group, Affinity Equity Partners, for $740 million. Further acquisitions saw the company become Australia’s largest smallgoods manufacturer, with a huge range of hams, other sliced meats, snacking products, bacon and sausages. Little wonder Primo attracted the attention of the world’s largest meat processor, the Brazilian company JBS.

In 2014, Primo Smallgoods was sold to the Brazilians for $1.45 billion, making the company entirely foreign-owned. Now called Primo Foods, the company has expanded into “providing protein-based food solutions across retail, food service, and quick-service restaurants globally”. It employs more than 3,000 people across its national operations. The workforce is spread across major facilities, including the headquarters and processing plant in Chullora, Sydney, and additional manufacturing sites like the one in Wacol, Brisbane. According to the Primo website, JBS is the second-largest food company in the world and currently (as of 2026) has more than 400 production units worldwide, 230 of which are dedicated to the production of meat cuts and convenience, value-added products.