In our latest ‘What’s Cooking’, we hear from food entrepreneur, Chauntelle Ready of Eat Organic Yoghurt. We learn about the remarkable and very personal circumstances that led to her starting her business.
Chauntelle tapped in on the ever-growing health-conscious consumer market and created a range of gourmet and organic yoghurts that have won prestigious awards. Her passion for excellence, and producing products that deliver on promise has seen her business thrive with her customers coming back for more.
Chauntelle shares about finally trusting herself, and how the business keeps her on her toes as the challenges and learnings never stop. We figure her enthusiasm and openness to whatever comes, is such a big part of her success. Read more about Chauntelle below.
Your business name: Eat Organic Yoghurt
How would you describe the business you are in?
We create multi-award winning organic yoghurts in traditional and unique flavour combinations that allow people to eat healthily and responsibly without sacrificing taste.
I wish I knew I could be myself and trust my intuition and that would be
just as good…than any ideal I had in my head about how to act.
What do you love about your work?
I love being able to be involved in change – in small business we have the opportunity to react quickly and really listen to our customers and it’s this momentum that allows me to engage in so many different faculties within the business. I love that each day sees something new – from getting elbow deep in yoghurt to visiting customers on the road; every day is different.
What part of your job would you gladly give away?
Nothing really – just when I start getting tired of one aspect of the business a curve ball is thrown my way and I get to change tasks!
If you were starting out in business again today, what piece of advice would you give your younger you?
I’d say to not worry so much about “acting” like a savvy business person; I wish I knew I could be myself and trust my intuition and that would be just as good, if not better, than any ideal I had in my head about how I should act.
Women start business 41% of the time to solve a problem? Sometimes this means we have a great vision but don’t have enough resources to sustain our business for the long term. Tell us what resources you started your business with.
My husband and I were just newly weds when we started the business. We were in a fairly unique position as we had sold everything we owned and quit our jobs to go explore the world when two weeks in I found out I was pregnant.
Following the weeks in hospital I was told to head home – there’d be no recovery from the hyperemesis gravidarum (severe morning sickness) I was suffering from. Not being able to go back to full time work and knowing a bub was on the way and thinking flexible work/motherhood options made me start questioning how we could turn the situation around – and Eat Organic Yoghurt was born (just a few short months before our son!)
As you know we are passionate about women #backingthemselves. So tell us about a time in the last twelve months that you’re really proud of.
Well it’s a little over 12 months ago, but we were recently honoured to receive Champion Yoghurt product at the Sydney Royal Dairy Show against a field of pretty big names for our Vanilla + Rose Organic Yoghurt. Whilst we’ve taken home some fantastic Gold, Silver and Bronze medals at the show in the past 10 years, winning the Champion product was an absolute buzz.
As we are always growing and learning, what is the one thing you would like to take time to learn more about?
There are so many! I’ve always loved food but actually haven’t studied in the field since my high school Food Tech days – so last year with a badly broken leg keeping me in my office chair for most of the year I went about completing my post graduate studies in Nutrition which has led me to renewed interest in the food safety side of the business, something I’d love to go back and learn more about. I think that the amazing thing about small business is that our learning is never restricted to one area – there are so many things I’m interested in studying and I know that the vast majority of them while maybe not directly related to food. will make me a better and more well-rounded business person.
The world is changing so fast and technology enables us to do so much more. We’re interested in which app you could not live without and why?
I have to confess to being a bit of an ostrich when it comes to apps, however the one that I use daily is Dropbox – it means I can access anything I need whether I’m at the office or helping out at the kid’s school – every single file at my fingertips, that’s pretty helpful.
Why did you decide to become a member of Females in Food®
Whilst small business is an amazing fit for a mum of young kids, its also very isolating. I’d tried a few different mum-type business groups but it can be hard to find people who relate to the unique environment that is the food world – until I found Females in Food. Here are a group of women all living and breathing food – just like me!
We love to celebrate the successes. Can you give us an example of how VIP Membership to Females in Food has positively impacted your business?
Only new so this opportunity to be profiled and able to share my story with others means a lot and I love to read about what others have to say about their journey and what inspires them. We’re all in this together.
Thank you Chauntelle. Your story is such an inspiration and have illustrated that success can come from difficult and life changing circumstances. You saw an opportunity and went for it. That’s impressive.
Interested in joining our community but missed out on becoming a Females in Food VIP Member in 2017? Then make sure you don’t miss out again by getting on the waiting list here.
Want to read more about another successful Females in Food VIP Member? Check out our ‘What’s Cooking’ interview with Simmone Logue.
We’d love to hear your comments about what’s inspired you in this ‘What’s Cooking’ interview or any one of our other blog posts. At Females in Food we believe in many voices and know the importance of building a community. Your comments are important for women who may be feeling alone, just so they know they aren’t alone and that in fact there is a big #empoweredcollective right behind them.
The Females in Food team