Jo and Brent Williamson, owners of Howler Hotdogs.
Jo Williamson is general manager of Howler Hotdogs, which she owns with her husband Brent. Can you tell me a bit about Howler Hotdogs?
My husband Brent and I bought an existing manufacturer of hotdogs. We felt the hotdog had been neglected in the past couple of decades and needed a bit of a makeover to make it more relevant to the modern-day consumer.
Most people have very fond memories of hotdogs associated with fun times in their lives, but unfortunately the quality of what people end up with in their hand can be very variable, so our mission is to ensure we get a great product into the hands of hotdog lovers. Our customers are foodservice distributors, supermarkets and speciality food stores.
I'm the general manager of the business and my husband looks after production. My days are pretty varied, which is nice - I can be doing anything from getting samples to prospective customers, to sorting packaging design or doing new product trials.
Our plant is quite automated so while we make tonnes of product, we are a small team of five plus my husband and me. Most of our team have been with the business for eight years or more.
In terms of getting paid in a timely way, what are the challenges you've encountered as small business owners?
Howler Hotdogs has preferred supplier status with our foodservice distributors and supermarkets, which is the bulk of our business and that guarantees us payment. However, we have found small speciality retailers have a reasonably high failure rate.
What would be your three key tips for other small business owners wanting to get paid faster?
