Three years ago, Chinese supermarket chain Winha had no customers. Now it has 800,000. By the end of the year, it hopes to have a million, and it has Australian farmers in its sights. 
Winha says it is one of the first companies in China to use the country's historic free trade agreement with Australia to help grow its business.
Chairman Jackie Chung was in Australia last week to negotiate directly with farmers to supply its boutique supermarkets in Guangdong, China's most populous province.
Despite Australian farmers heaping praise on the China Australia Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in   December, Mr Chung said the deal had a relatively low profile in China. "A lot of Chinese aren't aware of the FTA," he said. "Out of a population of 1.4 billion, 30 per cent would know about it."
Mr Chung hoped this lack of understanding would help give his company an edge over its competitors.
He said the FTA had allowed Winha to become effectively its own exporter and importer. It had set up an Australian subsidiary to buy Australian products that it would sell directly into China through its supermarket chains.
Mr Chung said the FTA had also allowed Winha to slash the customs process for importing Australian goods, which normally took six months to a year, to between two and three months, therefore securing supply before its competitors.
"In a free market, competition is inevitable, but being the first movers, we have an advantage," he said.
Mr Chung and other Winha representatives went to Shepparton in Victoria's Goulburn Valley on Friday and signed two memorandums of understanding with cherry and pear growers.
He already had a supply agreement with a Melbourne-based infant formula manufacturer and hoped to strike similar deals with beef farmers and health supplement companies.
When asked why he chose Australia over other food exporting nations, he said it was about density and regulation.
Density, because there is plenty of land relative to people in Australia, which means safer and greener food production, and the country's regulatory standards ensures it stays that way. "Australia is the only country in the world that regulates vitamin production," he said. "Therefore, Australia has very high standards when it comes to food consumption and, because of the FTA, Australian products have become more competitive."
But buying directly off Australian farmers isn't about saving money by cutting out the middle men. It acts as a certificate of authenticity.
"In China, there are a lot of distributors that import poor-quality food that they pretend is good-quality. I hope to correct that market. We are actually sourcing from the source and breaking down the distribution network."
Winha, which is listed in the US, is considering a float on the ASX.