Like many business owners in Tonga and across the Pacific, Charlett and Barry Millen are adaptation experts, rising to any challenge and just making it work. For example, the first problem they faced in Tonga was how will we make peperoni sausage with no pork? No worries. They now make a delicious spicy chicken sausage which substitutes very nicely.
The Millens create fresh and fabulous food from the best local ingredients, this spicy sausage is just one of many food items they have created to adapt to what is readily available. Tonga has been home to Charlett and Barry for nine years now; unlike many expats, they stayed through the pandemic simply because they love it.
Their floating restaurant – Hideaway Café – catering almost exclusively to the tourist market, only opened 10 months before the pandemic. Utilising a grant from Business Link Pacific to update cooking equipment, the Millens looked at how they could adapt their business to the new economic environment. They closed the Café and changed what had been on offer at the Falaleu Deli, their provisioning service and food store. Considering how hard it was for locals to get out and about during lockdowns, they turned their deli into a healthy takeaway for local customers – of course, nothing but the best home-ground chicken or beef patties tucked inside buns cooked from scratch.
Before the pandemic, Barry and Charlett had bought equipment for the Hideaway Café such as solar panels, a solar refrigerator and solar ice maker; these items have been sitting in the garage just waiting for the café to reopen.
Sadly, storms and the volcanic eruption put paid to the Hideaway Café, leaving it battered, broken, and sinking, beyond repair and in need of a complete rebuild. Committed to realising the potential of this business, over the past year Charlett and Barry have called in all favours, borrowing from family and spending their own savings to build a new Hideaway Café. The result looks great on land, but a design flaw means further expense is necessary to reinforce the base of the pontoon to make it seaworthy, and they just don’t have the money.
Thinking back to the earlier grant from BLP, Charlett got in touch with Siosifa Pomana at the Tonga Chamber of Commerce & Industry, BLP’s in-country representative. Hearing from Siosifa that further BLP grants had become available, she knew what to do.
Working hard is a constant for the Millens. Since the pandemic, finding and keeping good staff is problematic. Many are lured away by the promise of more money picking fruit in colder climes, leaving local businesses short staffed and struggling. With the Falaleu Deli provisioning service in full swing with the tourist season, and the takeaway business as popular as it was during the pandemic, life will certainly not be slowing down when the Hideaway Café reopens! Sorry Barry, no fishing for the foreseeable future.
It is the Millens’ fervent hope that – with BLP’s help – tourists will once again stumble across their little café floating in the blue ocean off Vava’u. Hideaway Café is sure to lure them in with fresh caught fish and crunchy chips alongside a cool hand-squeezed fruity Margarita.
And Charlett’s advice to you? “Get hold of your local Chamber of Commerce – they have all the resources to help you work out if you qualify for financial assistance. They have internet so you can access the BLP website and see what’s available. And get your business registered – your business will grow if you run it properly and to do that you need access to funding which is generally only available if you are operating in the formal sector.”
Maybe your business could use a grant for innovation and business growth? Visit your local Chamber of Commerce or get online at businesslinkpacific.com. From there you can assess BLP’s free online tools such as Business Health Check (https://businesslinkpacific.com/sme/business-health-check) and Business Continuity Planner (https://businesslinkpacific.com/sme/business-continuity-planner). These tools will help to identify areas in your business that could benefit from business advice. From there you can connect with a local business advisor.
Search our database of BLP approved business advisors (https://businesslinkpacific.com/search) to choose one that suits your needs. BLP approved advisors can guide you to access subsidised services (https://about.businesslinkpacific.com/what-are-blps-finance-services-support/).