Evan and Cheryl Jillett said, “Well, if the business doesn’t work, we can always use the shed to put the car in”.

It did work, and one shed became two and expansion kept following. Nearly 25 years later they are retiring from Jill Park Produce, a thriving business selling food for animals and much else besides (LPG Gas, Norco Milk, Australian Pet Supplies; Century Batteries; Victa Footwear; Mongrel Work Boots; Mitavite Stockfeeds; Highland Pet Food; Allora Grain and so on).

Cheryl said that her husband grew up on the land and he had a dream of supplying “affordable rural products and pet supplies to the typical ‘Aussie Battler’.”

When they started they feared the competition.

But in the end, they undercut that competition by working harder. One of the wonders is that Even never gave up his job as a council labourer and eventually as the council’s roads supervisor. He did two jobs – his day job on the roads and his evening job with their business.