Page 10 - Food & Drink Magazine March 2021

✷ RISING STAR
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RIGHT: Sweet Spot. Michael and Paola work to their strengths on different parts of the business.
BELOW: In a spin from big events to online orders.
though it was mostly about extending word of mouth as far as possible by featuring fan-created content. Online sales were a nice little earner while they slept, but hardly an overnight success.
Then the pandemic hit, wiping out a full calendar of nearly 100 events including 13 major multi-day shows.
“Since March 2020, every month has been uncharted territory,” explains Michael. “This is our first time running our business completely online, and as it’s difficult to anticipate people’s buying habits, we’ve had to be quick to adjust as required. For instance, when our sales dropped by more than 20 per cent in December 2020, it was clear from the previous month that people were planning ahead and buying well before Christmas.”
That said, going all in on ecommerce paid off in other ways for the Karamallis family: it allowed them to expand the business to new areas and increase revenue with more control, and Paola reports that not having to prepare for events meant they had most weekends free to spend more time with their daughter.
Michael is also glad he had extra time during lockdown to rewrite business plans with help from mentors in the online business community Business Blueprint, which he’s been a member of for a couple of years.
He says having access to planning tools and process templates was a game changer even before COVID-19, saving him thousands of hours of trial and error – and having business mentors means “you can’t procrastinate or make excuses”.
“We even got the idea for the world’s first fairy floss advent calendar from a simple conversation during an online networking event one evening with another business owner,” he adds.
“It was one of our biggest sellers in 2020, so being part of that community is a no-brainer.”
THE SUCCESSFUL FAMILY BUSINESS SECRET
Paola’s original dream of running a café with Michael was inspired by memories of how happily they’d worked together for other people earlier in their relationship.
Though working together for someone else compared to for themselves did require some adjustments.
“We’ve always been a good team but working together on
Fluffy Crunch we had to learn new skills and see what we each had to complement the business best,” she says, smiling.
“I’d tell him, ‘You stick to this part, strategising things, and not on the packaging part (which I really love), because this a my part of the business’.
“Now there are a lot of times we don’t even see each other during the day.
“It means that sometimes when we’re having dinner we can’t help but talk about the business... but it is a balance.”
“What we’ve realised is you’ve got to make time away from the business,” adds Michael.
“It’s good to have weekends off at the moment as a family, and we’re getting better at making time for ourselves – like, dates for Paola and I.”
For the couple, hard work is delivering sweet success. ✷
10 | Food&Drink business | March 2021 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au