How this man turned a family recipe into a fortune
To say Bruce Picot’s fortunes have turned around in recently years would be the understatement of the century. And it all started with a jar of peanut butter.
Picot, who at that stage owned a laundromat in New Zealand, had purchased a jar of generic peanut butter from the supermarket, only to be shocked by the sugar content.
Picot told News.com.au, “In New Zealand, we never used to have sugar in our peanut butter. But I had seen American peanut butter which loved putting sugar into their spreads, and I knew that would eventually come here.
“About 12 years ago, I purchased a 1kg tub of regular peanut butter, and all I could taste was the sugar. It was really disappointing and disgusting.”
Picot was so incensed he called customer support to complain, who informed him that the sugar content was to cater for modern tastes. But instead of accepting this, he opened the family vault and try his family’s recipe for peanut butter.
Picot says, “My mum and aunt used to make peanut butter at home, by using an old Vitamix blender. They would roast some peanuts and squash them up at home in the kitchen. Then they’d add a little salt, and that was it. Peanuts and salt.”
Picot made a couple of jars for his family. His son, who was 12 at the time, loved it so much that he shared it with his friends. And it was not too long until word spread.
Picot says, “They gave me $5 for a jar of the peanut butter because they thought it was the best. That’s when I thought that maybe people would actually buy it if I made enough of it.”
Here’s where Picot’s story takes a twist. As his laundromat business struggled, Picot was diagnosed with Macular Degeneration. No longer able to read or write, he eventually had to give up his business completely which was keeping him afloat.
So, Picot decided to go for broke and take his peanut butter to a local market. It was not too long until word spread and soon Picot was selling jars faster than he could make them.
“People from all over New Zealand started to come and see me in Nelson, and locals would come back every week to buy another jar,” he said.
“It was really starting to work, and some people started to ask about ordering online, so that’s when I decided to start a mail order business.”
Demand kept rising, forcing Picot to invest in a proper manufacturing facility. Today Pic’s Peanut Butter is found in supermarkets around the world with 15,000 jars of peanut butter made every day (working out to be 2.5 million jars a year).
And Picot couldn’t be happier, “It’s wonderful to be able to say to people they can get the peanut butter in big supermarkets because everybody knows where they are.”
What a lovely story! Do you have any family recipes? Who knows, you could be sitting on a goldmine.
Image credit: Facebook / Pic’s Peanut Butter