MARGARET RIVER EPICURE
By Dave Roberts
Jon Shelley had a bit of a thing happening. He had a life in Sydney where his own marketing company was bubbling along nicely, a fantastic family with kids just on the horizon, and a good enough excuse to regularly visit the South West, which is where the inlaws live.
As we’ve all learned, things might seem settled and successful, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to stay the same. As the idea of children came closer, the draw of living near rachel’s folks grew stronger, and it is clear that this is a pretty special place to raise a family. The wrench of moving to Margaret River eventually seemed less of a trauma after a few visits had introduced Jon to an artistic, diverse culture. Quite cosmopolitan for a tiny little town, he notes.
So what does a person with a Sydney marketing company do when the draw of Margaret River gets too strong? It seems the sensible thing to do is to understand what needs to be marketed in Margaret River. A quick perusal of the landscape showed that the region he’s landed in produces fantastic food and wine. Just our own features here note how many great producers exist, and the landscape offers not just extraordinary quality, but quite a broad range of offerings. Jon believes that what he can do is bring all of that to people’s attention, and even make the alliances between producers who have different but complementary output. Research soon shows us that along with wines and olives, we find cheeses, jams, coffees and any number of quirky produces.
With any number of major events going on in their life, Jon and Rachel made the move to Margaret River, set up a new business, and delivered a baby girl, all pretty much at the same time. Margaret River Epicure arrived on the scene in September of 2005.
Great ideas have their moment. Some seem obvious to us but never really manage to attract enough attention to float. Margaret River Epicure appears to have found it’s niche at precisely the right moment. The wine market is off and running, and a glance at the web site shows that steady contact with the range of family businesses across the region is bringing people on board. Feedback from Jon tells us that there are people out there who want the best and as they’re finding that Margaret River Epicure can get them access to lots of it, so the list of purchasers continues to grow.
Jon notes that the pace of everything, including business growth, is slower here. Things he might have hoped would expand instantly on the east coast are taking a steady but measured increase here. You get that.
This business combines a number of benefits for Jon and Rachel. The overheads are low so they can afford to live without making a squillion in the first year. The style of the business allows and requires time flexibility, allowing them to make commitments to a young family. Working from home allows even more freedoms and flexibility. They get to work with each other. The business people around generally love the things they’re doing and producing, and it’s great to work among the passionate.
Among all the bonuses, they’ve found great virtues in the necessary. It was pretty important to get to the South West. Now they have found a really splendid place to live, they basically need to be among the cultural offerings of the place to function, and they do things they like and are good at. All up, a pretty good result we think.
January 2006
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