General News
21 August, 2026
He’s bananas
A FAMILIAR Cairns roadside business is expanding across south-east Queensland after finding that its simple, honesty-based banana-stall concept works well beyond the Far North.
Just Bananas co-owner Tony Trafford said the business began in Cairns about five years ago with one trailer and has since grown to 13 locally, 11 in Ipswich and 14 in Logan. The company is now working with Brisbane City Council on a potential trial of six trailers.
“We’ve been in business for about five years now – and I wasn’t the first,” Mr Trafford said.
“So it’s not an original idea, I guess. But I’m, I guess, the driving force behind scaling it in Cairns and now further afield.”
The roadside trailers operate on an honesty system, with customers able to buy bananas using cash or card.
“So it’s an honesty system, which is incredible, and you know, we sort of thought if it works in Cairns, it should work everywhere,” Mr Trafford said.
Mr Trafford said the business had identified a market for bananas that might otherwise go to waste.
“There was a bit of a gap in the market, and once we realised we could scale it, it became a lot more viable to do so,” he said. The company also uses returnable foldable crates instead of disposable banana boxes, with the crates sent back to farms for reuse.
“We have a crate which goes back to the farm, so there’s no waste. It’s like the old milk bottle, glass bottle,” Mr Trafford said.
The business has also participated in Impact10x, delivered in partnership by JCU and Mindesigns and supported by the Queensland Government through the Regional Enablers Program.
Mindesigns co-founder and Impact10x co-director Omer Bernstein said the program was designed to help businesses and startups scale, with Just Bananas among its inaugural venture builder cohorts.
“Our goal essentially is just to spread the awareness about the impact10X program, so we can reach more people, create more impact for the businesses and achieve economic stimulation,” he said.
Mr Bernstein said the venture builder had attracted 35 applicants this year, almost double the number from last year.
“What we do is we’re trying to be very selective with the ventures that we pick, so our capabilities and expertise can really complement what they’re doing in order to achieve our ultimate goal, which is economic stimulation, so more jobs, bigger businesses, growth and so forth for those ventures that we work with,” he said.
Mr Trafford said joining the program had changed his view of how technology could be applied to his business.
“I felt like our company was very basic. But what these guys have shown me is that we can use AI and make it more viable, even better, by using computers to look at the trailers, work out the waste and work out how much is sold and stuff,” he said.
Mr Trafford said another major success had been demonstrating that the concept could work in urban areas.
“Knowing that we can almost put them anywhere and that they should work is quite a good thing,” he said. The business is also beginning to diversify beyond bananas, with mandarins being trialled, while Brisbane remains the next potential expansion target.
