When the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) hit, and unemployment became a reality for Eamon Clifford, he refused to let these circumstances dictate his future. Instead he decided that he was going to start his own business, and control his own financial destiny.
“Going right back to the seed, I built a pizza oven at my house 15 years ago with my dad, and it was always in the back of mind, that there was a niche there,” said Eamon.
“I heard about the NEIS programme about 10 or so years ago from a few friends who went through the programme.”
“When I suddenly found myself down at Centrelink, I got onto Newstart, and went in and pitched my idea to the Business Foundations. It was a really quick and painless process, and I started on the NEIS programme in July 2009.”
After researching his idea, Eamon knew that there were only five others with their own ovens in Perth, and saw a business opportunity for catering and selling pizzas.
Diablo’s Oven caters for parties; they do degustations which are a French style banquet, and have done a few of these for a wine maker in Swan Valley.
“We sit down with the wine maker and design the courses. It’s about $180 per head, for four or five hours, and you get all the wine perfectly matched with the food,” said Eamon.
“It’s a pretty broad spectrum we are covering now.”
“What the NEIS programme allowed me to do was really nut down the ideas, and get down to the core, and the seed of the business. Also having the business plan as a tangible working document was the strongest thing I came out with at the end,” Eamon said.
“It was also the planning and market research that we had to do, and just honing that idea into its actual sole purpose,” Eamon said.
Eamon has also found that the business has taken on a life of its own, and has had to adjust the business plan three times to meet the ever-changing demands of the marketplace.
“It’s been a lot of hard work. One of the biggest things at the start was starting a family at the same time as starting a business.”
“Probably the biggest head ache I had for the first four to five months, was finding reliable staff. Having said that, most of the staff has been with us 18 months now.”
“Also learning how to micro-manage budgets and taxes was quite difficult,” Eamon said.
“Time management is on a totally different scale when you’re trying to manage the whole business, and having to be the manager, the bookkeeper, the marketing manager, payroll, and wearing all those hats all at once. I wear 12 hats in a day, but it’s all a learning process.”
Diablo’s Oven has experienced good growth in its’ second year. They have purchased a second vehicle and have three mobile set ups on the road.
“We have 12 rostered casual staff and are about to make some full time,” Eamon said.
They also have a two month contract this summer in WA, for a feature film being shot in Margaret River, called “Drift”.
The short term goal is to cement their place within the market. They are also building a mobile tapas van and Eamon is currently negotiating with a local cinema who want him to set up a summer operation for their outdoor cinema.
To make sure that they are kept very busy over the summer, they also have a contract with Art rage to do the Fringe festival for the second consecutive year running.
The long term goal is to set up a restaurant, but for now Eamon’s focus is on the up and coming projects and the expected arrival of a new baby.
“I’m not sure how it’s going to grow next, as it’s organically happening,” Eamon said.
“If people are thinking of doing this, it’s one of the hardest things you will probably ever do, but it will also be the most rewarding. You don’t get anything without putting it all on the table.”
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