Page 11 - Food & Drink Business August 2018

Fresh from the pouch
From modest beginnings at the local farmers’ market, Molives founder Mo Amin has watched his pouch-based business grow – one fresh olive at a time, writes Kasey Clark.
AUSTRALIAN gourmet olive company Molives began humbly at the Orange Grove organic farmers’ market in Sydney in 2010, at which time founder and owner Mo Amin was still finishing his final year of university. Back then, Amin says, the enterprise was nothing serious.
“Mom was onboard, and we just did our own thing at the markets,”he says.
“We were marinating olives, stuffing olives, sourcing from farmers – just having fun with it really.”
Over time, however, Amin and his mother built a strong following.
“We thought, Why are all these people coming to us?” he says.
“So I did a bit of market research, and what I learned was that there wasn’t really much going on in the olive category – it was stale.
“You had olives in a jar – not that there’s anything wrong with olives in a jar – but not much else.
“And yes, there might be flavours or different suppliers, but essentially, the final product has been the same for ages.”
Amin’s research also raised a question: Where were the local growers?
“When I was sourcing for the markets, I met so many different growers, and I learned about their difficulties in taking their product to market and selling through retail channels because they’re dominated by imports,” he says.
He decided he would take on the challenge of introducing innovation and supporting local growers.
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done!” he says.
“But eight years on, we’re still going.”
HURDLES OF HIS OWN
That wasn’t the only difficulty Amin faced.
“The list of challenges when you’re starting a business from the ground up is never-ending,” he says.
“But for me, the biggest challenge was that with a new product line – olives in a pouch – there were no predecessors to learn from. You’re drawing your own map of the world as you travel. It might sound fun, but it’s scary. What happens if you make a wrong move and your funding runs out?”
DIY EQUIPMENT
Sourcing equipment also poses its challenges.
“Next to marketing and taking your brand to market, setting up your equipment can be one of the most expensive propositions,” Amin says.
“We sourced some equipment from overseas, but we built the majority ourselves, once we understood the food science behind the olives. This helped cut down on equipment costs.”
PACKAGING POINTS
Likewise, Molives’ chosen packaging style required countless decisions – and presented more challenges.
“Our packaging style goes back to our core values, which are: how to deliver
a tasty, premium-quality olive to our end users, all the time, every time, without the fuss of salt, vinegar,
and logistics,” Amin says. When Amin came across the
pouch technology, it ticked a lot of boxes for Molives. “The pouch gives you
presentation and design qualities, which you need
“ We sourced some of our equipment from overseas, but we built the majority of it ourselves once we came to understand the food science behind the olives.”
“You don’t have a market, and you don’t have sales; you have a vision, and you have a product.”
What’s more, Amin says, what you see is not always what you get. “When you look at machinery
in a catalogue or showroom, it might look like it’s going to do the job you need, but when you actually put it into practice, it can be way off,” he says.
But Amin and his brother rose to these challenges.
“We’re engineers by background – I’m a civil engineer, and my brother is a mechanical engineer – so we have the core skills for the machinery side of things,” he says.
www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | August 2018 | Food&Drink business | 11
RISING STAR
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