Frankie - Overcoming Small-Business Hurdles Away From The Big Smoke

We chat to six regional small businesses about some hurdles they’ve had to jump over the past year.

TRISH AND ANDREW DAVIDSON, MOONTIDE DISTILLERY
BROOME, WA
Moontide Distillery is a microdistillery focused on small-batch spirits, which we produce and sell at our purpose-built distillery and cellar door. We love Broome because it’s different and vibrant. Sometimes being regional means communication is difficult – we need to stand on our verandah to make a call as the mobile network doesn’t work inside our house. However, technology allows us to monitor our still from our iPhone – a bonus when you work in a remote area. It also means it can be tracked by the still producer in The Netherlands! When the internet is working, we can hold online meetings with distillers and suppliers across the globe. We scrapped our business plan when we opened in July last year to deal with the changing environment of lockdowns and travel restrictions. Broome received an unexpected benefit because West Australians were unable to travel outside the state. Thankfully, they headed north! We work with uncertainties: the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, cyclones, climate change, staffing and lack of accommodation. We just adapt the best way we can and get on with it.

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This article first appeared in Frankie on August 4 2021

Words by Emily Naismith