Michael McTeigue always wanted to help rescue abandoned dogs, but life and a corporate career got in the way - until, a fateful conversation at work.
"We were having a discussion one day about what we would do if we won the lottery - so it was just like one of those light bulb moments in your life where you go gosh... I probably wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now."
He decided waiting for the lottery to make a change wouldn't work. So he quit, and developed SavourLife.
"We make a range of natural Australian-made treats for dogs and give half of our profits to rescue groups and shelters," he explains. "We spent a lot of time on product development... [so there's] no artificial flavours and colours, all natural protein sources."
Being a social enterprise, Michael found banks were reluctant to lend to him, so he used his own savings and remortgaged his house to cobble together the initial capital, which he says totalled "a couple of hundred thousand dollars."
Fifty per cent of SavourLife's profits are donated to rescue charities. Source: Supplied
Three years in, the business has doubled each financial year, but Michael says balancing the finances remains a challenge.
"[I want] to make sure we're doing what we say we do, which is giving half our profits away - but also managing cash flow and investing in the business to pay suppliers."
Customer contact
Another challenge has been raising brand awareness. Wholesale and online sales making up the entirety of SavourLife's revenue, meaning Michael has never had the chance to meet face-to-face with his end customers - until his one-week showing at a pop-up space in Parramatta.
"We've never even had a market stall before" Michael says. "Almost our entire battle is getting people to know what we do. So to be able to talk to people and show them what we do... just getting that story out is invaluable."
The Cloud St. pop-up space, set up by accounting software company, Xero. Source: Supplied
It's a problem many small businesses face. Ross Purdy from Xero says that's why the accounting software company decided to set a up the pop-up space for its small business clients. "Generally [they're] trading online only so we wanted to give them bricks and mortar environment so they can communicate with customers, show off their products."
For SavourLife, the experience proved lucrative - over the course of the week, Michael rang up more than $5000 in sales, and introduced the brand to hundreds of potential new customers.
Missy the ambassa-dog
It helped that Michael had an 'ambassa-dog" on hand - his own rescue dog, Missy. Until Michael and his wife adopted her, she was due to be put down, after being abandoned by a disreputable breeder. She's exactly the kind of dog SavourLife is trying to help.
"She's a very people focused dog so customers love her. They're saddened by her story but I say, hey, Missy is a great story, she's one of the lucky ones. We'd like to make more stories like Missy."
Michael's 'ambassa-dog' Missy had to have a leg amputated after being abandoned by a disreputable breeder. Source: Supplied
So has a week in a pop-up location made Michael reconsider whether a market stall is worth the investment?
"Yes and no... we run pretty lean on the ground... we work seven days so it is tough for us to take time out and do market stall. But as we get a little bit bigger I think this is something we'll look at doing in some shape or form. It's been brilliant really."
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