By CASEY NEILL
SERVICE EXCELLENCE AWARD
SPONSOR: Dandenong Journal
WINNER: Noisette
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WHOLESALE bakery Noisette started with a conversation at a wedding between Gary Geremia and French baker David Merard in 2003.
“I rang him two years later and he didn’t know who I was,” Mr Geremia laughed.
But they again got to talking and soon opened a high-end French boulangerie and patisserie in Port Melbourne.
The business has grown from a turnover of almost nothing in the first month to more than $1 million in a good month.
Their manufacturing and production site landed in Dandenong in 2012, to take advantage of transport links.
“We’ve got plenty of market share to grab,” Mr Geremia said.
“The problem is there’s only 24 hours in a day.”
They make more than 400 deliveries a day and are on call 24 hours, seven days a week. Customers include the Hilton and Windsor hotels.
What drives Mr Geremia to answer his phone at 3am?
“The easy answer is money, but that’s not true,” he said.
“We want to be successful.”
This dedication has earned Noisette the Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce 2013 Service Excellence Award.
Awards chairman James Sturgess said customer service was one of the business’ keys to success.
“They ensure that they get every order right the first time and do that via a process of taking orders only by email, fax or phone so that every individual order can be checked,” he said.
“However, if an olive loaf is missed then the business has a simple philosophy of fixing it.”
The business supplies on a wholesale basis from Geelong through the Mornington Peninsula.
“Logistics is a key part of their business with so many deliveries every day, and this is subcontracted out to their previous logistics manager who started with one van and has now grown to 14,” Mr Sturgess said.
He said a first-class product had driven sales through word of mouth, and Noisette manufactured to a price point that worked.
“All this has been done without detailed planning or even a website,” he said.
“Their belief in themselves to trust their instincts takes considerable courage and their ability to date has borne out the fact that they are good at it.”
The business has grown from just six staff when it first opened to more than 100 currently, operating across three shifts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“With the possibility of adding on businesses and further developing their market, a $20 million turnover is possible with future growth,” Mr Sturgess said.
Noisette was also a nominee for the Employment, Manufacturing and Premier Regional Business awards.
