Pic picks up honour for work
Pic Picot has come a long way from being a problem kid.
The Nelson peanut butter king was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to business.
‘‘I dropped out at university, that was hard on my parents,’’ he said.
‘‘I pretty much followed my own path which was different than what they thought I might do.’’
It’s a path that led him to create Pic’s Peanut Butter in his garage in Nelson 10 years ago, where he ground the peanuts with a concrete mixer.
The company now employs 43 people who work in the office and factory at Stoke.
The peanut butter is being sold all over New Zealand as well as in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and mainland China.
Picot said receiving the honour was ‘‘amazing’’.
‘‘I feel stoked, particularly for my mum and dad you know. It’s just going to blow them away, that’s the most exciting thing for me.’’
Picot said he never thought he’d be a worthy candidate for the honours list.
‘‘To think what we’re doing is appreciated and ... that the wider community and the country thinks it’s a worthwhile thing to be doing, is wonderful.’’
In addition to running his peanut butter company, Picot has provided mentoring to start-up business owners in the Nelson-Tasman region as well as nationally. He has sponsored community organisations in Nelson including the Brook Sanctuary, the Nelson Arts Festival and Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Picot said the company had been growing steadily. The next phase would be the opening of a new factory.
He said the team would move into new premises in July, and it would open for public tours in October.
‘‘I’m constantly amazed what a wonderful team we’ve got there and how it’s developing.
‘‘Everybody is really engaged, it’s really neat.’’
Picot said his future vision for the company was to be recognised worldwide for ‘‘being an extraordinary company’’.
He said ‘‘peanut butter is peanut butter, it’s pretty simple stuff’’.
However it was all about the story behind the product and the way in which the business was run.
‘‘The support we’ve had from Nelson has always be phenomenal.’’ ‘‘We can keep building on that.’’ Picot said the company was ‘‘constantly getting offers’’ from venture capitalists.
But he wasn’t interested in selling shares in his company or in selling the whole company at this point.
‘‘We’re very happy at the moment, we’re growing comfortably. All the money that we’re making goes back into the company.’’