The business of sharing cars has taken off in Sydney and Melbourne, writes Ed Charles SOMETIMES you have just got to do it. Car share plan GoGet came into being when founders Bruce Jeffreys and Nic Lowe put their own cars — a ute and a diesel station wagon — into the first incarnation of their company, Newtown Carshare, which rents out cars by the hour. They secured a sponsored Volkswagen Polo from a local dealer and, with a dozen […]
Tag: The Australian, Entrepreneur
The Australian: New industry takes root
Money might not grow on trees, but it certainly can appear under them, reports Ed Charles October 27, 2006 FIRST we started exporting wine to France. Now Australia could be doing the same with that most exotic of ingredients, the truffle. Prized by top chefs, the truffle is the aromatic fruit of an underground fungus — the most popular being the Tuber melanosporum, or black Perigord truffle. It sells for $1500 to $3000 a kilo, depending on quality, and is […]
A high bar for small beers
There are small but determined new businesses brewing in the heady world of beer, writes Ed Charles Entrepreneur, The Australian, August 25, 2006 THERE’S no going back. Cameron Hines, joint founder of the Mountain Goat microbrewery in Melbourne, says: “Once you start enjoying and appreciating your beer, it’s almost impossible to go back and drink crap.” The founders of Australia’s latest crop of microbreweries became beer nuts while travelling abroad. Hines acquired a taste for boutique beers as he travelled […]
Scooping up success
Freshness, production on site and good cheer are part of the successful recipe at a gelato outlet, writes Ed Charles FINDING and motivating the right staff is always a problem for business. Now Trampoline Gelato chain is looking to develop a gang of at least 40 small business entrepreneurs to grow its chain. Trampoline opened its first store on Brunswick Street in Melbourne’s fashionable Fitzroy on April 14, 2004. Trampoline general manager Richard Furphy had been given the task of […]
Strength in numbers for the little guy
Moves are afoot to help even out the balance of power in franchising, writes Ed Charles ONE of the problems of being a small franchisee is that disputes with the franchisor are unequal. Franchisees are often small businesses while the franchisors are big, multi-million-dollar businesses that can leverage their market power and afford large legal bills. But the balance of power is moving a step closer to being evened out with the likelihood of the Senate passing legislation that will […]
FROM NICHE TO NATIONAL – How a gourmet yoghurt spread across Australia – A HOMEMADE SUCCESS STORY
From The Australian, Entrepreneur: Detailed research and some great timing has paid off for this niche market player, writes Ed Charles THE secret of a successful product is that it must be something that people want. And it must be something that a lot of people want most days in their lives. For businesswoman Ivone Ruiz it turned out that homemade yoghurt was exactly what Coles felt that people wanted to see on its shelves. It started when she discovered […]
The Australian: The fat of the land
From the Entrepreneur supplement. David Blackmore is a farmer with a difference – he’s prepared to outsource, writes Ed Charles
The Australian: Healthy returns
RUNNING a day spa is a bit like selling ice-cream. You need to sell a dream and you have to learn how to deal with the peaks and troughs of demand. From The Australian Entrepreneur September 30 2005.