For the husband and wife team behind a product fast becoming an Australian household staple, Pukara Estate's success has been forged off an acute understanding of farming principles.
"Agriculture shouldn't be a mono mentality. It has to be a continuous roll to take the seasonal peaks out," believes Pukara's patriarch Steve Goodchild.
To make it stack up commercially, you have to be generating cash monthly."
Today, the Pukara name is renowned for producing a premium olive oil product available in restaurants, food fairs and supermarkets, but the Muswellbrook headquarters has branched out into other areas of agriculture.
The business uses lambs to graze amongst the groves, rather than taking heavy machinery through, and then sells the lambs to restaurants in the Hunter Valley region.
While it is a great brand fit, there are practical incentives at play too.
Steve and Racquel Goodchild, owners of Pukara Estate. Source: Supplied
"If it isn't the olive crop, it's the hay crop or the fat lambs rolling through seasonally. It works, it's good," says Mr Goodchild.
While diversifying their offering has been important, at its core, the Goodchilds have always looked to maintain quality control of their main offering - olive oil.
"We can do as many products as we can. It is not being the biggest, it is being a viable credible product on the shelf," says Racquel Goodchild.
It's a sentiment echoed by her business partner and husband.
"Australian olive oil is a small industry. There is no doubt you could sell out in two months. But it is about creating value and keeping ourselves passionate and interested," says Steve.
One way to stay ahead of the curve and to keep the passion burning for the process is to continually create new offerings.
Pukara sells more than a dozen varieties of olive oil.
From straight extra virgin olive oil to a wasabi-infused product, the creative approach to crafting is an organic process generated by all of the business's employees.
Pukara's diverse offering has attracting customers Australia-wide. Source: Supplied
"Product development comes from a raft of discussions with like-minded people. At the smoko table with staff or at a dinner party with friends - these things evolve, you don't wake up and say today is the day I come up with a basil flavoured olive oil, it's really an evolving process," says Steve.
While the tasting rooms on their property have helped attract visitors to a region, the Goodchilds confess they "underestimated" it as a tourist drawcard.
The main catalyst for their success hasn't been the face-to-face sales element, but rather the back of house precision. Investing in a pressing, storage and bottling plant has allowed them to control the entire line.
"It was our saving grace in that we have taken control of our own destiny. We have our own bottling, harvester, processor. To compromise on storage would have been a foolish step," said Steve.
And for a family that refuses to compromise on taste, the Pukara team insist they will continue to favour quality over time.
