Brooke Copping, The Tasmanian Gourmet Food Company
If you have a business idea, do it ...
If you’ve moseyed through the Jan Power’s Farmers Markets at New Farm, Manly or Mitchelton, sniffed your way through Hamilton’s Eat Street Markets or fuelled up at local music and arts festivals, chances are your nostrils caught a whiff of the specialty snags striking The Tasmanian Gourmet Food Company barbecue. The sizzling specimens may have been too tempting to tear your eyes from, but if you happened to look up you would have been greeted by a warm smile from founders Brooke Copping and her husband Nick. While Brooke is Brisbane born and bred, Nick hails from Hobart. After living on the Apple Isle together for several years, when the time came to return to Brisbane the couple found themselves yearning for their favourite Tasmanian food products. Nick’s family have operated award-winning restaurants across Tasmania for three generations so there was no shortage of connections to growers and artisan producers, and the pair worked hard to track down the very best condiments, cheeses, sausages and ginger beer in the state. What started as one market a month has now grown to 12 markets across Southeast Queensland and northern NSW, with their first franchise launching in Sydney soon. The Weekend Edition caught up with Brooke this week to chat about the past, present and future of The Tasmanian Gourmet Food Company.
What’s something about Tasmania our readers might not know?
It’s not all scenery and wilderness. Certainly it has that in spades, but it’s become such a great destination for a weekend city break. There are fantastic bars, restaurants, cultural activities and events.
What’s been the biggest challenge of running The Tasmanian Gourmet Food Company?
Time management and tempering our ambitions with what we can realistically achieve. Still, it’s good to dream and have goals – no matter how ambitious!
… and do you end up going home smelling of sausages at the end of each day?
Yes! It could be worse though!
If you could dish up one of your products to any person in the world, who would you choose and what would you serve?
I’d love to serve one of our 15-hour slow-cooked Flinders Island lamb roasts to George Clooney …
What’s the most popular item on the menu and which is your personal favourite?
Our wagyu and caramelised onion sausage is the most popular at the moment. It was voted by Gourmet Traveller as one of the top ten snags for summer and it’s a winner. We sell cooked ones and take-home packs, and they just walk out the door. My personal favourite is the Gamekeepers sausage – Tasmanian fallow venison and wallaby with cranberries, lemon myrtle and native pepper. Interestingly, kids seem to like this one because the cranberries give it a nice sweetness.
Besides wallaby and lemon myrtle, we’ve also spied combinations like duck, pistachio and madera on the sausage menu. What other left-of-centre products are you loving?
We have a delicious Tasmanian wasabi mustard at the moment and we’re working on a new product for Eat Street Markets – crispy baby chat potatoes with Tasmanian truffle salt. Very simple but so addictive.
You’re the biggest seller of Wursthaus Delicatessen’s award-winning gluten-free sausages outside of Tasmania. Have you experienced increasing demand for gluten-free products?
Definitely. All of our sausages are gluten-free. We find a lot of people avoid gluten, even if they aren’t strictly coeliac. We also sell Tasmanian sheep’s milk cheese and find that a lot of people who are lactose intolerant love it.
What hurdles have you come up against in trying to transport Tasmanian produce to Queensland?
The biggest hurdle is dealing with some of the smaller suppliers who aren’t used to exporting their products. There are some amazing products we’d love to stock but unfortunately the producers are so artisan and small, they aren’t yet equipped to wholesale.
You also nourish the hungry flocks at events like The Falls Music & Arts Festival. Do you have any memorable moments to share?
The punters at Falls Festival were definitely entertaining! We crowned one customer, Jamie, ‘The Sausage King of Falls’ because he loved our sausages so much he kept coming back to try every kind. He got through all six varieties … more than once.
What’s the last thing that made you smile?
My husband’s jokes and antics; he’s always making me laugh!
What are your essentials for a well-spent weekend?
Beach, sunshine, friends, laughter and excellent food and wine.
What’s the greatest business lesson you’ve learnt so far?
Dip your toe to test the waters before you dive in. Start small without overcapitalising to test out your idea.
What are your hopes for the future of The Tasmanian Gourmet Food Company?
We’d love to see our business in farmers markets and events all over the country. We have our first franchise starting in Sydney in the next couple of months!
How do you define ‘success’?
Achieving the goals you set out to, however big or small.
What are your words of wisdom?
If you have a business idea, do it. We have found the business has evolved so much from our original idea. When you start out, you don’t realise the doors that will open and the journey it will take you on.
Only a Brisbane local would know that … it isn’t sunshine here all the time. I think my friends in Tassie think I sunbake every day.
FAVOURITE WEEKEND SPOT TO:
Perk up … The farmers markets – we’re always there.
Relax … Little Cove, Noosa.
Dine … Bamboo Basket, South Bank – they have the best dumplings!
Indulge … Thai Foot Spa, Fortitude Valley.
Shop … James Street, Fortitude Valley.
Catch-up … Pearl Cafe, Woolloongabba.
Be inspired … Tasmania.