The find my niche blog is about helping people make a living doing what they love, while still having a life!
Toni Moran is an inspirational businesswoman and mother of three grown-up boys from Kangaroo Valley, 2 hours south of Sydney.
If you’ve read my books page, you would know that I love to learn about women who have a family AND have built their own business.
Toni has turned her passion for teaching and love of connecting with people into a highly successful business.
Five years ago, after 25 years of teaching high school students food technology and hospitality, Toni decided to turn her skills toward engaging visitors to the Kangaroo Valley with local food and producers.
As a long-term resident of Kangaroo Valley, she was aware of numerous adventure activities including canoeing and bushwalking, however, she saw an opportunity to offer a different type of experience.
Ready to try something new, she took 12 months leave from teaching and began by offering food and wine tours of local Kangaroo Valley producers on Saturdays and cooking classes on Sundays.
Toni subscribes to the Nike business philosophy—that is, just do it.
Four weeks after hatching her idea, she had a website and was teaching cooking classes.
For the first three years, she offered the cooking classes in her home as well as food and wine tours of the region.
Two years ago, she rented a premises in Kangaroo Valley, sold the food and wine tour business, and began offering weddings in addition to cooking classes.
In the last six months, she has been transitioning to a purpose-built function centre on her beautiful 100-acre bush property—Wildwood Estate. Wildwood Estate is an ideal location for wedding ceremonies with amazing views and a marquee for 90 guests.
Toni humbly puts her success down to three key things:
1. Keeping it personal (she personally teaches all cooking classes)
2. Finding a niche (she saw a gap in the market and went for it!)
3. A fabulous husband (who made her gorgeous cooking benches at last minute notice, not to mention the new bush pavilion!)
Supporting local businesses, sharing her Italian heritage, and making a difference to people are also central to her business philosophy. She uses local produce wherever possible, hence her business name ‘Flavours of the Valley’.
She is also incredibly generous and has participated in significant aid work internationally over many years in destinations such as Samoa and Nepal. Her aid work in Nepal prompted her to hold a recent fundraiser that raised $11,500 for children in Nepal.
As you might guess, her cooking classes are absolutely wonderful. I arranged a private class* with my husband and three year old daughter.
We created a heavenly Italian menu of stuffed zucchini flowers, pumpkin tortellini, and cannoli with both toffeed cream and strawberry and white chocolate cream**. Masterchef, here we come! We made pistachio toffee, parmesan shards, our own ricotta, and pasta from scratch (trust me, those Masterchef competitors make it look hard—Toni made it look so easy!).
Throughout the class, Toni shared cooking secrets handed down from her Nonna. Toni was both generous and patient. A private class would definitely impress on a date or an anniversary—or as a special gift.
It was such a pleasure to meet Toni and to hear her story.
Some of the key takeaways for me were:
1. Just make a start and see where it goes
2. Experiment and learn from your action
3. Give yourself space to make a change
4. Supportive partners make a world of difference
5. Look for different ways to apply your current skills and experience
6. Look for a gap in the market—find your niche!
I hope this story inspires you to chase your dreams—and still have a life!
Thank you to Toni for sharing her knowledge and experience. Toni is truly an inspiring Australian who enriches the lives of those she meets!
Practical details:
Cooking classes and gift vouchers can be purchased directly through Toni. On select weekends throughout the year, her beautiful property is available for weddings.
Flavours of the Valley is well worth a day trip if you’re on the NSW south coast or as a detour off the Hume Highway. Kangaroo Valley is 2 hours from both Sydney and Canberra. It’s about 20 minutes inland from Nowra or 30 minutes off the Hume Highway near Bowral.
If you want more inspiration to make a living doing the work you love and still have a life, sign up to my weekly newsletter using the subscribe box above.
* I paid for the class and it was money well spent. I receive no financial incentives from this post.
** The menu varies according to seasonal produce.
Comments
Erin
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Erin