Nurse flips tender care to hotdogs
It’s never too late to change career.
Former Canterbury psychiatric nurse Jo Williamson has harnessed years of persistence and budding ambition to now account for more than 70 per cent of New Zealand’s annual hotdog sales through her Christchurch-based business, Howler Hotdogs.
The unlikely career switch from exploring complex minds to battering and selling sausages is one that Williamson and husband Brent toyed with over the years.
They experimented with several hospitality and retail related startups until they found the right product.
The classic meat-on-a-stick has soared in popularity in recent times, with last year’s Covid-19 lockdown cementing New Zealanders love for the traditional fish and chip treat. Howler’s supermarket hotdog sales rose by 65 per cent during that time.
Son Todd was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease about the same time the Williamsons’ business became Howler Hotdogs in 2015. The family wanted to find a new approach to a historically unhealthy treat, and so gluten-free Howler Hotdogs were born.
The gluten-free option gave the brand a point of difference when it first launched, which Jo Williamson said had a huge impact in getting them off the ground.
Hotdogs had ‘‘always been Kiwiana’’, but there was never a recognised brand, she said.
‘‘Our difference is we are a little more nutritional, and we align with those food trends, which helps.’’
Jo Williamson began trialling a soy-based vegan hotdog at the Christchurch Vegan Expo in 2018 and the response ‘‘went off.’’ Howler’s sales went up 20 per cent on the previous year, and the family knew they had cracked a decisive gap in the market. They never looked back.
The most difficult part of creating a vegan hotdog was getting the texture right, as Kiwis wanted a ‘‘like for like product’’, she said.
The Williamsons were no strangers to navigating their business through a crisis. Their parent company, Golden Goose Foods, was young and under a brand-building phase in 2011 when the Canterbury earthquakes struck, and set them back significantly.
Pivoting the business and managing cashflow were harsh lessons learnt during the quakes, but it meant they were better prepared when the Covid-19 lockdown was announced, Jo Williamson said.
‘‘Retail is quite a beast. We’ve made a few mistakes and learnt a lot over time.’’