Couple’s $80,000 investment that got their product at Coles

A young couple have revealed their $80,000 plan they made after only five months of dating, “when you know, you know”.

Billy and Dani had only been dating for five months when they invested $40,000 each to start their olive oil business, Supper Supply.

It was a bold move for the couple but they told news.com.au, “That when you know, you know.”

The couple invested $80,000, and it came at a cost: arguably the Australian dream of buying their own place.

“It was enough that we could probably own a house by now instead of just renting if we hadn’t done it,” Dani explained.

“We do see it the same as any other investment, doubtfully more high risk than most others but hopefully it will pay dividends one day or it might not and we’ll stay renters forever.”

Their business plan was simple: they wanted to sell virgin olive oil in a squeezy bottle. You know, like how tomato sauce and barbecue sauce are packaged. Their product is recyclable and costs $24.

Billy and Dani had only been dating for five months when they invested $40,000 each/ Picture: Supplied

Their item is now stocked at Coles. Picture: Supplied

It took a lot of work to convince their friends that it was a good idea. They’d just started a new relationship and now were going to be business partners

“A lot of our friends think we’re crazy, and still do. They were surprised that we took on a business on top of our day jobs and even more surprised when they learnt it was to sell extra virgin olive oil in a squeeze bottle,” Billy said.

On the other hand, their families were a little more easily sold and keen to support the young couple on their venture.

“Our families have always supported us, notably Billy’s mum who would come over at 8pm and pack orders for 2-3 hours with us each night, earning her title as Chief Packing Officer,” Dani said.

Starting a business involves a lot of trial and error as well. There’s no guidebook or anyone to train you when you’re running the show.

“Though Dani has a marketing background in fast moving consumer goods, neither of us really knew what we were doing to start off with. For example, when we ordered our first 5000 bottles, we made the decision not to put a barcode on the label – as we thought we would sell online initially,” Bill explained.

“We were quickly contacted by a number of stores who were interested in stocking our product – so night after night we sat there sticking thousands of barcodes to the bottles for our retail customers.”

They’ve learned so much from starting their business. Picture: Supplied

Getting it into Coles was a massive win. Picture: Supplied

The couple still hasn’t quit their day jobs. Billy is a lawyer, and Dani is in marketing. Managing both a business and daily working life hasn’t been easy.

“We’re lucky in that we were able to invest in our business and keep working. However, we have made a lot of sacrifices – no fancy restaurants, overseas holidays or other things we might have indulged in before,” Dani said.

“The biggest investment has been our time. For a couple of years, we would get home tired from our day jobs and then start packing the day’s orders and do other business admin, often until the early hours of the morning, and then wake up and do it all again the next day.”

The couple now have a distributor, so the physical labour has eased, but it is still very time-consuming, and there have been times when they’ve thought about throwing in the towel.

“We’ve been very close to shutting the business down a few times because of the burden but glad we pushed on with it,” the couple said.

Not quitting has been worth it though.

Their virgin olive oil is now stocked at Coles, and the couple said they managed to get it on supermarket shelves because they didn’t give up an finally found the right people to help them.

“We have a great relationship with a distributor – Really Good People. They were able to leverage their existing relationships with Coles and expertise in the supermarket space to get us on the shelves,” Dani said.

“It took us a couple of years of proving our business model by selling our product online before we were able to get a look in with distributors for shelf space. We started in premium grocers in Melbourne before eventually getting a shot at Coles Local.”