Tracey Batt is a multi-award winning business owner for the following categories in our 2020 AusMumpreneur WA-SA Awards
- Silver winner – Customer Service
- Silver winner – Making a Difference (Health & Wellbeing)
Tracey is the owner and founder of Adventure Snacks and mum to 2 boys. Her business journey started with her own range of organic baking mixes, selling at farmers markets, wholesale and online. Wanting to diversify the range, Tracey sourced lunchboxes and accessories to add to the website. By 2018, Tracey realised that to scale up the baking mixes, she needed to go down the path of large scale manufacturing. Instead, because of the growing interest in the lunchbox range, she expanded that side of the business into an e-commerce store. Tracey have steadily increased the range of mealtime focused products which align with the vision to make packing healthy lunchboxes easier and family mealtime more fun for Australian families.
When did you start your business?
At the end of 2014 with the baking mixes, and the shift to a purely e-commerce store was in 2018.
What was the inspiration behind starting this business?
I created the range of organic baking mixes due to the lack of healthy snack options for kids at the time, when my eldest son was 2. I was frustrated with the majority of food that was marketed towards kids as not really being nutritious so I wanted to change that. I made the difficult decision to move to an e-commerce store and cease producing the mixes as I really loved the online world (and had just had my second son). I found I could still make a difference to family mealtimes by providing my customers with high quality, fun mealtime products – and I haven’t looked back!
What are you most excited about in your business?
The growth we have experienced in the past 12 months has been amazing, and it has meant that I could employ 2 casual staff and I have just leased a warehouse. Moving the business out of my home opens up so many opportunities and will allow for further growth. I am also in the process of designing my own range of products which is so exciting!
What has been the most challenging thing about starting your business?
Back when I started, the biggest challenge was educating consumers about why they should pay attention to what’s in their food. A lot has changed in the market since then, and people are becoming more conscious of what they eat so that’s been fantastic progress. The constant juggle between mum-life and building a fast-growing business from home has also been a challenge.
What advice would you give to other women thinking about starting a business?
My first piece of advice is to just start! You won’t know everything, and don’t necessarily need to, to get started. Just begin to put the wheels in motion and see where it takes you. Secondly, surround yourself with other women in business. Nobody knows the highs and lows of running a business like a fellow business owner – I have found having a close circle of business friends and being part of Masterminds, has been integral to my success.
Why did you enter the AusMumpreneur Awards?
I entered the awards because getting recognition for the hard work you have put in is always nice, and being able to leverage any wins is a bonus. It’s such a positive group and the buzz around award time is so great to be part of.
What did you enjoy the most about being part of the awards?
I actually enjoyed the live judging! It makes you think hard about what you have achieved, and really highlights to yourself how far you have come. I am so passionate about my business, so any opportunity to tell people about it is enjoyable for me.
What surprised you most about the awards?
Winning! I placed in 2 People’s Choice categories in 2020 which blew me away. To have enough of my customers and supporters vote for me to be in the top 3 was an amazing feeling.
How did the awards help you in your business?
I was able to promote the fact that I was nominated, and then could promote that I won. It gives credibility to the business and gives you something to talk about too! I have also met some amazing women through the awards and conferences that I have attended over the years.
What advice would you give to others mums thinking about entering the awards?
Definitely give it a go. You will be surrounded by so many other amazing mums in business and you never know – you might just win!
What’s happening next in your business? Any big plans for the future?
The two big projects coming up are creating and manufacturing my first product, and forming a partnership with a charity that supplies meals for disadvantaged kids at school – both things I am super excited about. Apart from that, moving into my warehouse and being able to start outsourcing more will allow me to work on scaling the business further over the next 12 months and beyond.
To learn more about Adventure Snacks, please visit the website, Facebook or Instagram.
All images featured here are from Tracey Batt.
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