In September 1984, Ratu David Toganivalu, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economic Planning and Development, inaugurated the Fine Foods (Fiji) Ltd factory at Wailada Estate in Lami. The Fiji Times reported on September 28, 1984, that he received a traditional Fijian welcome and was presented with a tabua upon his arrival.
The opening event attracted around 150 guests, including local business owners who planned to market Maggi 2-minute noodles in Fiji and neighboring South Pacific nations, along with representatives from Nestle Australia and CJ Patel.
Following the formal ceremonies, attendees were divided into groups of seven for a guided tour of the factory. They explored the pristine staff room, which was equipped with tea-making facilities and employee amenities.
Hygiene was a crucial concern for the factory, which featured clean, modern changing rooms with showers and toilets. The quality control laboratory, also highlighted during the tour, was responsible for testing both raw materials and finished products to maintain high quality standards. This lab was equipped with an incubator and a hot air oven.
Additional facilities included a broiler and service room powered by an automatic diesel engine, as well as a hot water system. The storage area was filled with sacks of Australian wheat flour and large drums of vegetable oil.
The factory’s automated machinery included a 250kg mixer that precisely measured the liquid ingredients for the noodles before they were directed into a steaming tunnel. This steaming process fully cooked the noodles.
Once cooked, the noodles traveled down a conveyor belt in sets of three before being separated into groups of six and sent into the frying system, where they were fried in premium vegetable oil. The frying process was fully automated, with pre-set oil levels and temperatures, utilizing steam heating to minimize fire hazards.
After frying, the noodles were cooled in a dedicated tunnel before arriving at the conveyor belts, where they were packaged into yellow bags, each weighing 93 grams. Packers on the assembly line completed the process by placing the finished product into cartons for distribution.