Infuse Infuse 10 December 2019 | страница 23

I discussed the idea of continuing Straight To The Source as a partnership. Since then, we have moved forward as a collaborative team pooling together our experience, education and passion for the industry. Tell us about your story. How did you come to work together at Straight to the Source? Tawnya: I founded Straight To The Source in 2012 as a service to the hospitality industry, to provide opportunities for like-minded chefs to get out of their kitchen and experience first- hand how ingredients are grown. In 2014, Lucy and I were both studying the Masters of Gastronomic Tourism online through Le Cordon Bleu and Southern Cross University. We became study buddies and eventually, decided to meet in-person for lunch. We realised our values and business ethos were aligned. Straight To The Source by this point was having a positive influence and establishing itself as a meaningful service to the industry. I also knew that in order to grow the business further I needed to find the right business partner to work with. The more time Lucy and I spent together it became clear we would make a good team so, now a few months down the track, we went to lunch again (this time we ordered really nice wine and I made sure she had plenty!) and © Dietitian Connection What did you do before Straight To The Source? T: I moved to Australia from San Francisco where I worked for a software company, as an international sales and marketing manager, for almost 10 years. I was always drawn to food provenance and cooking and fortunately I travelled extensively while in IT and used that opportunity to explore food cultures to self-educate myself. When I moved to Australia, I decided to put my business skills to work to enter the food industry by researching the condiment sector in Australia. This was 1995 and I found a gap with mustards, pickled garlics and American-style tomato based seafood sauce. I set up The Condiment Connoisseur and quickly became an artisan producer hand making American style seafood sauce, importing garlic and mustard products and setting up a warehouse and gourmet distribution company selling eventually nationwide to top deli’s and article continues overleaf... 23 Infuse | December 2019