Client Feature: Kehoe’s Kitchen
Posted 29 Mar '16
Posted 29 Mar '16
As you know by now each quarter we celebrate Brisbane business and this quarters client feature is one with think our fellow Brisbanites will love! Kehoe’s Kitchen have been with us for 18 months now and in this time we have witnessed their business flourish. We sat down with Brenden and Katrina, directors of Kehoe’s Kitchen to find out how Australia’s first certified organic producer started.
Q. Tell us about Kehoe’s Kitchen
At Kehoe’s Kitchen we are all about making probiotic food that is of the highest quality. We were Australia’s first certified organic producer of the type of food that we make. Our range includes:
We are very proud of our extensive range, it’s the largest of its kind in Australia.
Q. How did Kehoe’s Kitchen start?
Kehoe’s Kitchen was started as a Facebook page by Katrina a few years back. The original intent was to share nourishing recipes, gain some support and followers and then produce a cookbook.
As a family we were committed to improving our health and saw diet as being a key component of that. Katrina started to share some of her ideas about that on her personal Facebook page, but then had the idea of starting Kehoe’s Kitchen in order to cast the net a bit wider. This also meant that we could provide inspiration and ideas to other families that were on the same path.
Soon enough we started doing a market stall on-selling other people’s products that supported healthy eating. However, Katrina saw an opportunity for us to do more than just that.
Brenden took some time off from his job at the time to give Katrina space to write the cookbook. We have two young kids, so it was always a bit of a juggle. On the first day of Brenden’s leave, Katrina convinced him to build a commercial kitchen so that we could start making our own probiotic food.
From that point we started selling our own probiotic food at the Northey Street Organic Market. Our first day was amazingly busy, and it’s just snowballed from there.
The rest as they say is history, but now we both work full time at Kehoe’s, we’ve moved to a much larger location and we are able to employ some very passionate and committed staff.
We’re also now distributed throughout Australia in health food stores and some independent grocers as well.
Q. What make’s Kehoe’s Kitchen different from other businesses in your industry?
There are a few things that we like to think sets us apart.
Feedback from our customers consistently commends us for the quality of what we do. We take absolutely no shortcuts in producing Australian Certified Organic fermented food and drinks.
We were the first producer of our kind to gain Australian Certified Organic status. Other businesses in the industry had been going for much longer than us, and hadn’t achieved this. So we set the benchmark in that respect. We’ve heard other businesses talk about how difficult that process was for them, but due to our commitment to quality from the beginning, we found it quite straightforward.
Our range also sets us apart from our competitors. It has grown vastly since we began.
As a family owned business, we’re in the thick of production every day and have a very strong commitment to ensuring our products are the best on the market. We want to ensure that every jar or bottle of our product that a customer buys is of the highest quality. We instill these same values in our staff.
The end result speaks for itself.
Q. Starting a small business can be challenging in today’s market. What is one thing you feel was a challenge for you and how did you overcome that?
For us the biggest step was moving from a fairly small location to a larger warehouse.
It was all a bit scary and stressful, but we were growing rapidly and could no longer stay in our other premises.
We simply had to back ourselves and take the plunge.
Q. When did you start using The Empire for your business accounting and what differences have you noticed since working together?
We started using Beth before she was a partner in Empire. Before we started working with her we were so busy starting the business up and adjusting to the challenges of that. Beth was able to come along and help us to put the necessary steps in place to get better control of our finances and accounting.
If you’re concerned that your books, tax and accounting are in a mess, speak to Empire.
Q. Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to start a business in Brisbane?
Maintain your integrity, treat people well and don’t take short cuts. Brisbane is growing, but is still small enough that word of mouth counts for a lot.
Keep up with Kehoe’s Kitchen
www.facebook.com/kehoeskitchen
Instagram: @kehoeskitchen
A list of their stockists can be found here!
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