Ask Chunky Dave why he started his business and you will be greeted with a smile, a deep breath, and an unexpected tale of healthy eating and label-reading that culminates, rather remarkable, in a successful peanut butter business on the cusp of ‘going national’.
Dave Hemming, a record producer, software trainer and father of two, is what one would call the accidental entrepreneur, stumbling into a business while on the quest for something else entirely. For Dave, that something else was weight loss.
“My wife had started calling me ‘Chunky’,” explains Dave, “as a joke really, but I knew I wasn’t eating right and I decided to go on a health kick and be more aware of what I was eating.”
A sympathetic friend supplied Dave with organic peanut butter and, while perusing the label, he was struck by its simplicity: “all it contained was nuts and oil, so I thought I’d have a go at making it myself!”
It turned into a serious project when the first attempt “tasted disgusting” admits Dave. “I was determined to find a way to make it good. I did so many different versions and ended up taking in masses of jars to work and giving them away to friends, and people seemed to like it.”
Encouraged by his friends’ interest, Dave decided to print some labels, give himself a brand, and take his product to market. He emerged onto the produce market scene with two different types of peanut butter (original and chilli) that sold out in a flash – “people tasted it and bought it, I couldn’t believe how popular it was!”
His weekends now involve deliveries of 50kg crates of peanuts from Queensland that have to be roasted in the oven and then blitzed in his food processor, before being packed into jars and stored in his house for market day. It’s a three hour process for each batch, snaffling his free time and leaving his family thinking he is “a little crazy”.
“But they’re very supportive,” stresses Dave. “One of my daughters helped design the website and the other comes to the market with me. And my wife is very patient!”
With a slick website, neat packaging and a product that is proving popular, Dave is now on the cusp of a big commitment, approaching the pivotal decision to turn the peanut butter project into a serious, commercial enterprise.
“I’ve been approached by a distributor in Melbourne,” Dave confides, “and I’ve started looking at renting commercial kitchens so I can make the peanut butter on a larger scale.”
Despite the gradual and unintended evolution of the business, Dave comes equipped with the skills and experience to make it work. He has enjoyed a varied life, working freelance as well as for large companies and so well adjusted to managing his time and committing to a project, both skills that are vital in starting a new business.
Chunky Dave’s Peanut Butter could be the next big thing if Dave is willing to take the next step, and already he is attracted to the idea of being a full time ‘peanut butter guy’, inspired by his product and invigorated by the reaction he gets from his public.
But he also remains grounded, realistic and grateful, enabling him to stay focused as things move ahead for the accidental entrepreneur who is, he admits with a laugh, “not even much of a peanut butter fan!”
“But these things just happen I suppose.”
Find out more about Dave and his business at www.chunkydave.com
