Hot Chilli Source is a local Central Coast business, owned and operated by couple, Jason and Melanie Stenning. They specialise in the design, development, production and procurement, of 1,000’s of products including personalised Clothing & Uniforms, Labels, Packaging, PPE, and Promotional items. Their head office located in West Gosford houses administration, sales, customer service, graphic design, production and printing. They also have three independent warehousing facilities.

Jason and Melanie’s original intention was to provide an alternative option to Central Coast businesses who would normally have to source products and services from either Newcastle or Sydney. Located on the central coast, this helped to create a source of employment for talented locals and provide a quality of life for them without the regular Sydney commute.

The teams’ main focus is on continual improvement of the business’ service levels, with a large portion of the growth and success being attributed to their superior response and delivery times. In order to better their service, they are looking to further automate their processes by providing more interactive online portals for their customers.

“The fact that we have in house graphic designers and web developers means that this is an ongoing project that receives a lot of energy which will deliver huge gains in efficiency for us and most importantly – our clients,” says Melanie.

Hot Chilli Source recently installed a range of new printing equipment that is attracting a lot of new business on both local and national levels.

The new print assets include:

• 2 Primera CMYK digital printing presses and 2 Primera digital converting and finishing suites. This equipment allows the business to supply labels with super-fast turnarounds. Any colour, print, size, shape and quantity with no tooling or set up costs required. The market was screaming for high quality labels at cost effective rates that can be delivered in short time frames. Hot Chilli Source has now built that solution which separates the business from the competition.
• 3 Zebra thermal printing suites catering up to 150mm in width and covering both 300 and 600dpi print output. Hot Chilli Source stock hundreds of blank labels that are ready to go or can convert master rolls to any size required. The flexibility is proving to be something that the market has been craving, so the intention for the business is to install another 3 of these suites in the new year.
• Brother DTG (Direct to Garment) printer. This state of the art unit allows to print garments and textiles with no set up fees or screen costs. With an amazing 1220dpi output, you can have photographic quality images printed on shirts, bags, caps and numerous other promotional items.
• Dye Sublimination Printer. The dye sub unit means Hot Chilli Source can print text or high resolution images on a huge variety of substrates, e.g. coffee mugs, sunglasses, rulers, stubby coolers, or any promotional item as required.

Over the next 12 months, Jason and Melanie expect to maintain their steady growth. Their plan is to further improve levels of service, while continuing to provide high quality products and super competitive rates.
Melanie says the business is experiencing a period of significant growth, the biggest challenge being the teams’ ability to support the expanding client base whilst maintaining an industry leading standard of service. This year the client base exceeded 10,000 so the main challenge in 2016 for the business will be finding suitable sales and relationship management staff.

“Troy Marchant at Robson Partners works closely with our management team and staff across all aspects of the business from accounting, business model development, strategies and also advice on finding suitable staff. Troy has lead group sessions where we have explored systems for personality profiling to determine suitability for each individual and their roles in the company. We see Troy as an integral member of our team and long term successful future.

Our management team meet monthly with Troy to ensure that strategies and decisions have been implemented. Our team is very responsive to new solutions and adapt very well,” Melanie explains.

The businesses success in 2015 covered a huge range of items incorporating the supply of the following product ranges:

• Labels & Signs
• Work Wear & Uniforms
• Personal Protective Equipment & Safety Products
• Corrugated Packaging & Point of Sale Displays
• Promotional & Retail Bags
• Traffic Control and Line Marking Products
• Adhesive & Warning Tapes
• Promotional Items
• Custom Designed / Manufactured Products
• Imported / Outsourced Items

The top 10 partnership successes for 2015 were:

• Lindt and Sprungli (Lindt Chocolates)
• Honda
• Brad Jones Racing Holden V8 Super Car Team
• Johnson & Johnson
• Dreamworld
• Trend Laboratories
• Smith & Nephew
• Batlow Apples
• USG Boral
• Kimberly Clark Australia

Hot Chilli Source currently support local schools, sporting teams and not-for-profit organisations. They have a strong interest in supporting local youth organisations and helping others who are just starting out in business.

By this time next year, Jason and Melanie expect to have increased their locally printed product from producing around 25% to over 85%. The brand and product ranges will be represented in their own individual catalogues, the introduction and roll out of their wide format printing equipment will have been completed, and the new website will be fully implemented and functional.

Jason and Melanie explain the best thing about their professional advisor – “Troy is enrolled and engaged in our business. He takes care and pride in what we do and tells us what we need to hear.

Troy helped us structure our private business finances to gain benefits for us personally. He has worked at length with us in restructuring our superannuation, personal income and income tax strategies as well as our property investment portfolio. It’s amazing that you can think you have the best solution in place only to find out there are much better ways to do things and Troy taught us this.”

Troy is very approachable and doesn’t shy away from the hard tasks or questions. He is open and honest, and tells it to you straight. We are comfortable with Troy’s advice because he has proven himself time and time again over the last few years. Part of our contracts process now involves discussions with Troy over financing, inventory management, credit and trading policy and managing relationships. It’s nice knowing we have a safety net when it comes to the financial aspects of our trading from someone that always makes time to ensure we sleep well at night.”

Jason and Melanie say they realise they cannot be everything to everyone all of the time. They focus on their skillsets and ensure that their customers leverage those offerings. Through this realisation, they believe with a core team of integral people, in integral positions, they can work more smoothly and efficiently together and achieve a greater outcome with common goals.

If you would like to learn more about what Hot Chilli Source have to offer, or would like to learn more about their success, click here.