It was an industry very much at its birth when I began and I saw a great opportunity to become a part of its future. Knowing Pepe’s background, his focus on quality and his passion, I believed I was in the right company to foster this industry.

Since joining the business there have been many milestones. I’ve seen the business grow immensely – when I started we were producing about 28,000 ducks a week, now we’re producing 80,000. That in itself is a great achievement. The demand for duck continues to increase, so the industry and the company have a huge future as we see duck migrate into many restaurants and family homes.

My role here at Pepe’s as CEO is extremely varied. I’ve been very much focused on meeting growth in the market and growth of the operation sector. We have today, for a business of our size, probably one of the most modern plants in the world, which is incredible for a family company.

We are also proud to have a World Standard operation on our Pepe’s farms. The continued development of the duck itself in terms of things like husbandry, biosecurity, and meeting all the food standards that’s required have been huge milestones for our business and the industry.

Being part of a team of people who continue to strive every day to serve our customers with the best quality and the best service gives me a great sense of pride.

Joining Pepe’s is something I’ve never regretted, it’s something I’ve enjoyed all the way through. The growth of the business and the growth of the industry has given me a great deal of pleasure and a great sense of responsibility, as well as a great sense of achievement.”

My job as Operations Manager now involves anything to do with the business in terms of operation. It makes me proud as anything to work with my dad and keep it operating as a family business.

I started working with my dad straight out of school, in 1993, having always wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps. But dad definitely didn’t make it easy! I worked my way right through each area, from the farm to factory work.

There’s been a whole host of proud moments for me and my father. He’s built this company on service and quality and it’s my responsibility to continue that. Having your name out there, and people acknowledging that name, is an incredible thing.

I’ve been fortunate enough to travel all over the world for research, looking at the latest duck processing technology and farms. Most of the equipment that we have here in the factory comes from overseas.

Our breeds come from overseas as well – France and the UK – we go over there where they train and teach us how to breed and care for them.

Now we’re looking to the future and I couldn’t be more excited. We have some big projects ahead. Supplying Australia wide comfortably is our goal. I want to be the number one duck producer and the number one for quality in Australia.”

The job is very diverse and no two days are the same. My role involves looking after all the finances of the group – from the account side to the HR and the payroll, a position I’ve been with in the company since 2001. My biggest achievement in that time has been condensing five subsystems into one main system, which has enabled better control and efficiency of the company.

“Seeing the growth of the business from when I started here makes me very proud to be a part of Pepe’s and the future of Pepe’s is only going to grow.”

“My role as Factory Manager for Pepe’s Ducks involves managing the entire production procedure – from the time the duck arrives at the processing plant to the end product leaving the factory, as well as planning the collection of the ducks each day from our farms.

Since starting my career here at Pepe’s in 2008, I’ve implemented the quality systems across the breeder farms and hatcheries, as well as working with the new standards that have come out. The processing plant keeps growing on a daily basis and there is still a lot of work for us to do.

The market is expanding and Pepe’s needs to grow with that market. In order to do that we just need to keep expanding, building new hatcheries and processing plants and it will be my job to maintain the quality assurance aspect of these operations to ensure the quality isn’t compromised as we grow.

I can see my role starting to expand in the field and on the farms. It’s an exciting time for Pepe’s and I love what I do here – there’s never a dull day!”