fbpx
Home / Topics  / Adventures of a startup  / Adventures of a start-up part 16: Showtime, getaways and new collaborations

Adventures of a start-up part 16: Showtime, getaways and new collaborations

Waikato Home Show

So we managed to survive our first show! From Thursday-Sunday we were kept on our toes handing out samples, answering questions, selling yoghurt, and somehow still keeping our usual brewing sessions going before/after the show days thanks to our amazing team of yoghurteers. Mum, Dad, my brother Aaron, and our yoghurteer friends Amy & Strachan all pitched in at the stand too which was awesome. We couldn’t have done it without the crew as we really were under-prepared for just how much demand there would be. People absolutely LOVED the yoghurt and made a beeline for our stand, we were sold out completely by Sunday morning and had to ‘borrow’ a tub of yoghurt from one of the local cafes just to have enough left for sampling! We ran out of all our supplies super fast too – cups, spoons, etc, and if it weren’t for the generosity of our stand-buddies Goodbuzz and Blue Frog Breakfast we would have been a bit stuck.

Thanks to all the nice people who came to meet us and chat (both show-goers and fellow stand-holders) – you made it very fun for us, was a great vibe all weekend.

Foodie Getaway

After all the show madness we had some much-anticipated relaxation scheduled – we’d invited a bunch of foodie business-owner friends to come hang in Raglan for a weekend. It ended up taking a bit of organising to make it happen but everything came together beautifully! Solscape, an incredible eco-retreat overlooking Manu Bay hosted us for the weekend, and went the extra mile to get their new pizza oven ready and cranking to welcome everyone on Friday night. There were about 30 of us, from all over New Zealand – Wanaka, Queenstown, Christchurch, Nelson, Wellington, Auckland…everyone made such an effort to be there, excited at the chance to just hang, chat, swap stories and tips and encourage each other to keep on trucking along. Oh and we threw a bit of rough-and-ready caving into the mix too, Raglan Rock took us through some crazy underground cave warrens, plenty of slipping, sliding, wriggling and bonding! We were also lucky enough to have Patrick Dodson, Raeward Fresh’s chief food blogger give us a thought-provoking presentation on his insights from interviewing almost 50 Kiwi food businesses over the years.

I’ve always believed in the magic of people connecting in person. Commenting on each other’s social media posts is one thing, but being face to face and swapping ideas is completely different and much more powerful. Some awesome collaborations came out of the weekend and everyone is keen to do it again soon.

Introducing – the Raglan Coconut Yoghurt Muesli Bowl

Speaking of collabs – we got together with local Raglan master-potter Tony Sly and asked if he could make a beautiful muesli bowl as a (belated!) thank-you gift for each of the wonderful people who contributed a recipe to our Coconut Cookbook. They turned out so gosh-darn gorgeous that we ended up commissioning a small batch of handmade bowls, which are now available on our website and will pop up in selected stockists too. We love that when you finish eating your muesli you’re rewarded with a big smile from Yoghi!

Syrian Refugee Fundraiser Results

Many of you would have seen the foodie raffles we put together to raise funds for Syrian refugees in Greece. About 18 different businesses contributed their products to make it happen, and thanks to all the people who chipped in and bought tickets we raised $1,775! Clean Eatz NZ and a team of volunteers in Lesvos put this to good use, making hot meals of lentil soup and bread for around 1,200 very grateful people. Felt good to do something to help as it’s been so sad watching all the footage from the situation.

Highs:

  • New foodie friends! Loved meeting the people behind Libertine Blends, The Midnight Baker, Bonnie Goods, Yum Granola, and Make it Raw for the first time.
  • Having another family member join the team – my sister Cindy is now helping us with the admin side of things, yay.
  • Picking out our very first beehive recipient through our recently launched Bee Friends hive sponsorship program. Tom was absolutely stoked and will get his hive next week!

Lows:

  • Further kitchen delays. Honestly, it feels like we keep hitting roadblocks at every turn.
  • Realising that we’ve slacked off on invoice-chasing recently and it’s affecting our cashflow. We’ve introduced a strict ‘no prompt payments, no yoghurt’ policy and will be sticking to it. When you’re a small business, every dollar counts!  
Review overview