Dishing out real business talk

HOSTED by the Surf Coast Shire on August 25 at Samesyn Restaurant, “Crunch Time: Local Chefs talk waste, costs & what works” is designed for real talk with honest and practical insights.

The open conversation will feature executive chef at Totti’s Lorne Hotel Matt Germanchis, zero waste chef and owner of Samesyn Graham Jefferies and the entrepreneur behind Pollo Rotisserie, Jason Gugliotti.

The three experts will provide attendees with the advice and practical tools tailored to fit the realities of running a hospitality business on the Surf Coast.

Gugliotti made his start in business young, growing up on a rural farm. All he knew was to work hard and by the time he was in Year 12, he owned his first home.

“After school you couldn’t go to the movies or you couldn’t go to your mate’s house, because your mate’s house might be 5km down the road,” he said.

“You save up a bit of money, there’s also nowhere that you can spend your money and my generation was the first to have phones and stuff at school, it wasn’t until Year 11 or 12.”

Previously owning small supermarkets, Gugliotti started Pollo to create a solution to fill a need in the market.

 

The new-age chicken shop got its start in Geelong, followed by a second shopfront in Torquay with a third store to open later this year.

Gugliotti’s business ventures don’t stop there, with the entrepreneur to soon open Ela (previously Bob Sugar) and Greenbay in The Esplanade.

Although his pathway to the top hasn’t always been smooth sailing and after experiencing extreme burnout and large debts, Gugliotti has learnt that to succeed in business, you need to look after yourself.

“It just got to a point where I ended up in hospital because of chronic fatigue and I was 23 or 24, but I was physically shot,” he said.

“But that’s where I learned the most and it only reaffirms it now, is that a lot of people in business, it’s actually the personal stuff that gets in the way of things.

“If you understand those fundamentals in business and you have all that, then the only thing that can come in and take it away from you is the personal stuff.”

Gugliotti said when going into business it doesn’t really matter what you operate as there were a lot of universal skills, and if you had a strong understanding of the fundamentals, it’s all very similar.

 

His biggest tip when thinking about starting a new business is to establish a niche, because those are the businesses that make the most amount of money.

“You’ve got all this uncontested market space, and if you do it really well, then you are left on this island.

“If you’re going to do what 20 other people are doing, well, then you’re sharing a one out of 20th pie.

“Always start with the planning and the research, because that’s free and it justs cost you your time.”

At the coming Torquay event, Gugliotti will speak about small business specifically and what he loves about owning a business in the region.

 

“It peaks in summer, it’s still got viability during winter, there’s no off season, easy to find staff, we’ve got big talent pools here, big pools for regional, there’s a lot of things that are in our advantage.

“In my opinion, the town thrives off small business, and if there is a good diverse mix of small business that are doing well, it’s what brings people to towns.

“I think small business is so critical and not just because of the taxes and fees and stuff that we pay or what we contribute to the economy, but also for just what we can bring to the place.”

Gugliotti has identified there are not many pathways into small business and not many support mechanisms, with events such as Crunch Time helping to close the gap.

 

“Events like this, [there] needs to be more of, because you want to learn from people that have done it before to give you that inspiration and the confidence.

“If we can start certain things like this, then it potentially might be able to build into some more things that actually give people a bit more knowledge and stuff to get into business, which is only good for towns.”

The event will also introduce Crunch Hospo, a new program offering practical, hands-on support to help local food businesses developed by industry experts.

Surf Coast Shire has partnered with the Crunch app to cover the cost of a six-month membership for 40 local hospitality businesses to get access to tools, training and expert support.

For more information and to register for the free Crunch Time event, head to surfcoast.vic.gov.au/CrunchTime