A couple of years ago Tony & Danielle decided to pursue a long held passion to create high quality “Paddock to Plate” gourmet catering under the brand Flaming Good.
From their mobile wood fired oven they produce mouthwatering pizzas, spit roasted pulled pork and delicately flavoured slow roasted lamb in back gardens to wheat fields. Such was the demand they have launched a range of condiments to compliment their meals and approached us to design the labels.
Me: To date what has been your best business decision for the Flaming Good brand?
Tony: I read a great quote the other day: “When life makes waves, learn to surf!” This really resonated with me because as Olive Growers we initially weren’t making much money and that’s how Flaming Good was born. The best decision we made was to sit down and recognise that we needed to diversify and to implement that diversification in as professional and cost effective way as possible.
Me: What do you feel has been your biggest challenge to growth?
Tony: Time and money are two things that I think everyone is challenged by on a daily basis. We recognised early on that not only did we lack the available time to fill all the roles within our company, but that more crucially, other people could carry out some of those roles better than we ourselves could. In some cases that meant having other people do some of the more repetitive tasks and freeing us up to work more strategically, and in other cases we decided to out source aspects where we didn’t have the skills to achieve the desired outcome. Branding is certainly in this last category – sure, you know your product and you’re passionate about it, but do you honestly have the myriad of skills required to creatively impart that passion on to a label, for example?
Me: What is your best tip for an emerging brand to launch a successful retail product?
Tony: There are a few things. Know your product and it’s unique selling points, play to those strengths and identify trends in the market that your product can slip into. Equally as important is to know your own strengths and weaknesses and have strategies to overcome those weaknesses. If you have a brand already, don’t be afraid to change things like the logo to keep up with the times. If your brand is in it’s embryonic phase, seek some professional advice and consider the brand as a third person, like a small child that has to be nurtured and encouraged to grow. So surround yourself with positive professional people who are of a similar mindset to you.
Me: Looking back what would you consider to have been the best opportunity you had?
Tony: I see opportunity everywhere! For us and for Flaming Good I think it’s been the case that our “Paddock to Plate” concept has resonated so well with growing numbers of people that one opportunity has led to another and working with people who share a similar philosophy has been a tremendous opportunity. I think of Felton Food Festival as a good example and Australian Events as another.
Me: What do you like about working with Evolve Brand Design?
Tony: Working with Renee and Evolve Brand Design has always been a pleasure. We’ve engaged Renee to help with both our Olive Oil range and the Flaming Good branding. I really appreciate the different options being made available and the initial lengths that are taken to really understand what your brand is and how to present that in a well considered format.
Final comment from Tony: Branding is one of the key parts of the whole retail equation. Your product may be the very best in the world, but if it isn’t well branded the commercial success of that product may fall far short of its full potential. As business people we need to be aware of this and be prepared to invest what is in relative terms only a small percentage of the brands’ turnover during its lifespan. Working with Evolve for us represented excellent value for money as the net result was a quality product that has great visual impact on the shelves and screams out our message to potential customers day in and day out.
