Odyssey Magazine Issue 4, 2015 | Page 64

And he did. 'We developed the product to share with vegetarian on a small burner with an AMC cooking pot, and a glass friends and family. I started out doing this for myself, but thermometer to control the temperature. The sausage in a sense, I didn't believe I'd make it – it's very, very peeling involved a small piece of electrical conduit through tough becoming a vegetarian. It's worse than giving up which Wally pushed the sausages – he had a Stanley knife smoking, because it's a social thing. Take the turkey out to cut the cellulose casings, and a cappuccino machine of Christmas and what have you left? The real essence delivering steam. 'This was the machinery I had when I of Christmas. The real meaning. Once I'd broken through got a listing in a major supermarket chain.' these illusions, I'd made it easier for myself. We created Entrepreneurial to the core, Wally told the buyer, 'I'm four or five beautiful, tasty products, really acceptable so backed up with orders, I'm not sure I can produce for even to meat eaters.' you immediately.' A vegetarian phoned Wally. His father was the 'I had to rush out and make a factory. I didn't even chairman of the Vegetarian Society of South Africa. He'd know which machines to buy. There was some divine heard about the products and wanted to taste them. intervention there, because the day after seeing the He loved them, and as an experienced marketer, said buyer, there was an auction of machinery in Durban. I he'd teach Wally how to market them. 'He did this huge bought everything because I didn't know what I needed. marketing plan and basically taught me what I needed to Didn't even know if it worked, and if it did, no idea how do to see a supermarket buyer.' to work it anyway. I trucked it back to the mini factory For packaging, the Frys created mock-ups on ODYSSEY 64 •  DIGIMAG The Frys had no factory. The products were made I'd taken.' cardboard, prepared all the products in sample form Eventually they were making 50kg a day of what with little information flags on them, and walked into the became known as Fry's Family Foods. In one shift now, first supermarket buyer's office: 'He wasn't keen to taste Fry's makes around 14 000kg. it,' but Wally was persuasive: 'I've prepared all this, so Initially, it was just Wally and Debbie, and they please, you should...'. He did, and called in the staff from employed three people. 'I was literally loading a whole surrounding offices. The response was overwhelming. He container on my own. Debbie did the weighing – I did said, 'When can you supply?'' the production – and we'd clean the factory together in