Food manufacturing is the new "gold rush" and offers a way for young professionals to escape the housing bubble, according to Ian Henderson, the founder of the booming Australian Vinegar business.

Mr Henderson started his cottage vinegar operation with a single barrel in Stanthorpe in south-east Queensland 12 years ago, and has turned it into a business making 68 different vinegars for domestic and export customers globally.

"Food manufacturing is booming in Australia at the moment. All our customers and suppliers up and down the supply chain are having a great time manufacturing food in Australia," Mr Henderson said.

From humble beginnings, Mr Henderson's business which he calls "geek central", now employs a dozen double-degree scientists who are enjoying the advantages that come with living outside the city.

"I have clinical pathologists, one of my vinegar makers has a master's degree in electrical engineering, we have medical biotechnologists, we have honours chemists, we have physics and maths grads," he said.

"All of my staff, largely gen Y's, every single one of them owns a home, nobody rents."

After the opening of his new $5 million factory, Mr Henderson urged food processors sitting on expensive capital city land to consider cashing in, selling up and moving to the bush.

"They can reclaim the assets in those properties, move to much larger, much more efficient, much more spacious facilities in the countryside.

"You'll find everything you need in the regions, cheap land, infrastructure, staff and the raw materials. If you want to go looking for opportunities, go west into the gold rush."

Ian Henderson samples vinegar in the Stanthorpe factory.

He said attracting top scientific talent to Stanthorpe was not hard, once he started mentioning home ownership in the job ads.

"We don't see any impediment to making food out here, as there's nothing a truck or technology can't bring me," he said.

"Housing affordability in the regions has never been a problem; its getting interesting jobs into the regions that's the problem and I think we are helping to break that deadlock."

Sir Peter Cosgrove said Australian Vinegar showed what "local people can achieve".

Mr Henderson's new factory was officially opened by the Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove, who praised the former wine maker for building Australian Vinegar from a cottage operation to the multi-million-dollar business it is today.

"This is where value is added to the basic product and jobs, export income and prosperity are created," Sir Peter said.

"We see here just what regional Australia and local people can achieve."

The state-of-the-art-factory replaces a cramped shed, which they outgrew many years ago.

'Functional foods' a growing and lucrative market

In the factory's new research laboratory, Mr Henderson's team is working on developing new products.

Dr Michael Sweedman is racing against food scientists around the world to develop a palatable drinking vinegar to aid weight loss.

"It's a very competitive field. There's a lot of interest … at the moment mainly because there's a lot of good solid evidence coming out demonstrating this thing we've known for ages and anecdotes and people endorsing it. Now we are bedding down why those things are true," Dr Sweedman said.

The key ingredient which can aid weight loss is the acetic acid in vinegar.

"The first effect is in the stomach triggering a whole bunch of receptors that makes you feel fuller," Dr Sweedman said.

"Also it actually stimulates a lot of metabolic pathways including breaking down fats in the liver and slowing gastric emptying which is food going out of your stomach. So those foods like starches which have a high GI, the digestion is spread out lowering the glycaemic index."

If he develops a patentable product for the globally lucrative "functional food" market, the returns could be enormous.

Mr Henderson says the 20-fold increase in production has already allowed him to travel the world in the last six months chasing export contracts.

"I went five years frustratingly saying no to all of our leads, now we're saying yes, we are about to get those deals, as suddenly the ceiling is lifted and capacity is available."

Watch Vinegar Dreams on Landline, Sunday at noon on ABC TV