Support SA Buy Local – F&B recipient of the week – Emma Rooke

We had a dream to create a beautiful traditional buffalo mozzarella so we acquired a small herd of Italian Dairy Buffalo, and I studied a Cert III in Food Processing at the Artisan Cheese Making Academy. It was such a great experience.

We heard about the Food and Beverage Development Fund from a previous recipient. She couldn’t say enough nice things about Carol and the support provided by the F&B family. I applied for a grant to support me to do the Business SA Encore Program, which provided mentoring for new businesses, and was successful. It was so inspiring to see so many people passionate about their businesses of all kinds – fashion, security, medical, wellness and food and beverage.

The course assisted me to understand the types of things we would need to consider as the business grew, in particular budgeting, marketing, risk management and business planning. I regularly draw on my learning from this course as our business develops. For example, we are currently focussed on improving our branding and financial systems.

When I arrived at the awards night, I was humbled by the calibre of the people in the alumni and the other people also receiving awards. There were some really great South Australian businesses represented there, including other well respected cheese-makers and even another business from Myponga!

Since then, the business has steadily evolved, we are making dairy products and trading at the Willunga and Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers Markets.