Teena and Anthony Mammino, parents of three, live on a cane farm outside of Childers, near Bundaberg Queensland. The income from their sugar cane farm was being threatened by low sugar prices, and so the couple sought for ways to diversify and supplement diminished returns on the 11,500 tonnes of cane they supplied to the local sugar mill. So successful have they been that the 'secondary' business that they began now threatens to overtake the primary one. And it is surprising to learn that home-made gourmet ice-cream is the key to their success.

	But there would not have been such a ready solution if not for the foresight of Anthony's father who 20 years ago planted 600 macadamia trees on a steep piece of land that was not suitable for sugar growing on the family farm. He actually planted the trees as a hobby and each year they were harvested and sent to processors.
Over the years the price decreased form $5.00 per kg, nut in shell, to $2.00 per kg, nut in shell "We had reached the point where it was not worth harvesting the nuts as we were still doing it by hand," Teena explained. "So we bought a small nut cracking machine and I started experimenting with my grandmother's ice-cream recipe to add value to the nuts. Soon we were selling our hand-made home-made ice creams from our shop beside the house, and customers were queuing for them." Because of strict regulations governing the making and selling food products, the Mammino’s had to eventually decide whether to close the sideline business or back their dreams with real money. "We had to apply for council for rezoning and comply with regulations, upgrade the parking area for customers as well as put in a commercial kitchen which met government health standards with a state-of-the-art ultra violet water purification system," Teena said. "Two years and nearly $50,000 later we have won various awards and the ice cream is in increasing demand, to the point where we now buy extra nuts from neighbours and Anthony's parents are both involved in the business." The Mammino farm is located on Luckett's Road, close to the Bruce Highway and their road is an increasingly busy secondary link between local towns. The farm has become a popular stop for local bus tours. Teena's production schedule has increased from 60 ice creams every couple of weeks to 500 per day, perhaps three or four times a week! Packaging comes in various sizes, the smallest a 150ml clear plastic cup with a stick embedded, ready to eat. 500ml, 1 litre are available to take home and enjoy, and 5 litre tubs are shipped to local businesses to sell. The ice-cream is priced as a gourmet item.

1999 was a year the couple will never forget! In March they won Central Queensland/Southern Reef Tourism Awards for Best New Tourism Business. In 1999 they won Best New Business for the Bundaberg Business Awards, and they went on to win the Queensland Micro Business Network Awards in May in the Home-Based Business category and later in the year they won the Guardian Bundaberg & Districts Business Awards for Best New Business and Finalist in the Overall Best Business Awards. In 2000, they received a Highly Commended Regional Attraction in Central Qld Southern Reef Business Awards and also, the Newsmail & Guardian Bundaberg & District Business Awards for Food Business - 1 to 10 people. This recognition opened a lot of doors for the couple - doors that they had previously not known existed. Anthony explains, "There is assistance available for small business but without these wins we would never have been aware of it. The recognition we got from the awards brought the assistance to us. It is equally available to others but not everyone in business knows who to approach and what to ask."

The Mammino’s have received a lot of help and support from their state government through Queensland State Development who sponsored the Micro Business Network Awards. That office is funding the expertise of a food technologist to help the couple with production and increasing the shell life of their products as their ice cream is now in such high demand. State Development has a range of grants available to help businesses with expansion and are only a phone call away. There are various centres scattered state wide which give free assistance to business owners, and each state government offers similar services. It is only by picking up the phone asking to talk one-to-one with advisors that business owners will become aware of opportunities and services that may benefit them. Teena added, "We have also received help with mail order delivery of products all over Australia from Australia Post, another sponsor of the Micro Business Network Awards." To enhance the benefits of winning the awards, Teena and Anthony asked for a letter of introduction from the Queensland Minister for State Development and Minister for Trade, Jim Elder, which he was happy to provide. That letter has itself proved valuable when making further business contacts. Likewise, they provided a sample of their ice cream with dessert at a local Electorate Council dinner function and have received a letter of thanks and support from John Anderson, Deputy Prime Minister, who attended the event. "This level of support and recognition only came to us because we made the effort to enter the awards in the first place. Needless to say we are extremely busy people but we made time to fill in the entries and every minute we spent doing that has been repaid many times over," Teena stressed. "We now supply restaurants and coffee shops with our gourmet ice creams and we are receiving more orders every day. There are more exciting developments in the wind, developments that have only come our way because our put our hands up and said "Look what we are doing!" Every business owner should do the same. No-one is too small!"