Page 47 - Fiji Traveller Issue 1

Family-centred business
“Our business has a really big impact on our family,” he says. “You’re
constantly thinking about business, what’s happening in the factory, or
what you should be doing behind the scenes, marketing, invoicing and
all these sorts of things.
“We were really, really lucky to have my sister here, who helped us
and also other family members who helped us with getting our product
in front of the right people.
“We have really made a conscious effort to spare time for our boys
and acknowledge that it wasn’t their choice to move here to Fiji to start
a business, it was ours.
“At the end of the day, we have to put down our phones, put down
anything to do with the business and focus on family life and try to
find that balance. That’s tricky, because as a business owner, you can
never really switch off. We might be playing with the kids or cooking
dinner, but I’m always thinking about whether I should approach this
hotel now? Or, I wonder how things are going with that product?” he
says. “

Future plans I look at
Pickering is proud of what the company and family has achieved in
the past seven months. companies like
Working with Fijian hotels and resorts has become a big part of
Island Style’s business model. “We are supplying all the supermarkets Fiji Water or Pure
that we want to supply, and we’re also in some really good hotels,
supplying the breakfast peanut butter there and also supplying gift Fiji, they bring
bottles as well to some really nice hotels. I guess our next stage is to a lot of pride to
get more hotels because we’ve found that the hotel business is going
to be a big part of our revenue so we need to try and capitalise on that Fijians when you’re
as much as we can.”
Pickering says they are hoping to launch a vanilla peanut butter, overseas. I would
something that is uniquely Pacific, for the year-end holiday season.
“We made it in New Zealand and it was really popular. We were using love to add to that
Tongan vanilla called Heilala. It’s a really, really nice, premium vanilla
paste. We’re thinking about re-launching that here in Fiji, maybe story and make
around Christmas time. We just have to find a good supplier of vanilla.” Fiji proud to have
Island Style peanut butter is a premium product, and is priced
accordingly. “I think like any other business, once we get bigger, another product
hopefully we can lower our costs, and provide it to our customers at a
lower price point,” Pickering says. out there.
He envisions Island Style becoming an export product and being
recognised as a quality Fijian product. It was recently certified under
the ‘Fijian Made’ brand. “I love that because I look at companies like
Fiji Water or Pure Fiji, they bring a lot of pride to Fijians when you’re
overseas. I would love to add to that story and make Fiji proud to have
another product out there.”
Perseverance is key, he says. “If you want your business to grow,
you have to put that business first in a lot of ways for it to flourish.
There’ll be a lot of challenges down the road. Believe in yourself.
Believe in what you’re doing, and also surround yourself with positive
people, people that are going to help you advance rather than pull
you down.
“It’s okay to fail. If you start something and it doesn’t work out,
it’s okay, learn from it and don’t give up. You’ve just gained a lot of
experience from what seemed like a failure, but it’s not a failure. It’s a
teaching and a learning that you can take and move to the next thing,
but just always keep moving forward.”

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