As Australia's population increases, so too does the amount of mouths that need feeding. I believe this bodes well for many of Australia's leading food companies and puts them in a good position to deliver solid long-term growth.
With that in mind, I have picked out three quality food shares that I think are worth considering as long-term investments. They are as follows:
Collins Foods Ltd (ASX: CKF)
As one of the world's biggest KFC franchisors, Collins Foods is feeding fried chicken to people across the world. Whilst its domestic growth has been robust and still has plenty left in the tank, it is the company's expansion in Europe which has me licking my lips. The European market is extremely under-penetrated and provides the company with a significant runway for growth. It is early days for the company in that market, but I have liked what I've seen thus far. Another bonus for investors is that Collins Foods' shares provide a trailing fully franked 3% dividend at present.
Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX: DMP)
Like rival Collins Foods, Domino's is also focused on expanding its footprint in the European market. In fact, it sees such a large opportunity in that market that it expects to be able to more than double its global store network over the next seven years largely because of it. I believe that this expansion, combined with its focus on improving margins by leveraging technology, could lead to bumper profit growth over the long term. This could make it worth ignoring short term volatility and making a patient buy and hold investment.
Freedom Foods Group Ltd (ASX: FNP)
Finally, Freedom Foods is a company which I think has a bright future ahead of it. As well as benefiting from population growth, the health foods and dairy company looks likely to be a big winner from the shift to healthier diets. As well as this, the insatiable demand for its UHT products should also be a key driver of growth in the coming years. Especially after recent investments expanded its capacity enormously, allowing it to capture more of this growing demand. One downside, though, is that its shares are trading on a sky-high earnings multiple. This does mean that its shares could come under a lot of selling pressure if its growth isn't as strong as the market expects.
