18/09/2026
THE CHALLENGE IS REAL 😂
You know you’re not the only small business owner feeling it when you walk into your local café to deliver their week’s order and somehow end up agreeing with the owner that, yes, you too have been scrolling Google at ridiculous hours of the morning looking for some sort of longevity elixir.
Not because we’re afraid of ageing.
We just need enough energy to make it to Friday. 🤣
Then your local spice supplier, who is also your customer, because this is the Wheatbelt and apparently everyone is either your supplier, your customer, your neighbour, your cousin’s mate or all four rings and says:
“Hi, I’m here at the pickup point… where are you?”
Ummm…
That’s tomorrow. 😂
And neither of you are even surprised.
Then there’s the lovely customer who arrives just as you’ve finished a 14-hour day, washed the last tub, turned the lights off and are standing there holding your cleanup b**r or w**e.
And you really are happy to see them.
You’re just hoping they don’t ask anything too complicated because at that point your brain is running on approximately 3%. 😆
Then there’s the morning routine.
Feed the horses.
Feed the chickens.
Water the magpies, who now appear to be on some sort of permanent catering package out of the dog bowls.
Check the neighbours’ sheep, who have once again decided fences are merely a suggestion and are out freelancing around the district. 😂
Then you head off to collect the local deliveries and realise your husband, a very committed Freo supporter, has carefully written “GO FREO” on one of the boxes for our local earthworking bloke.
Because apparently even wholesale deliveries now come with unsolicited football commentary. 🤣
And sometimes, somewhere between the escaped sheep and the football propaganda, you just have to find your sense of humour before breakfast.
Or the Sunday morning message that comes through while you’re still in bed.
First thought:
“Who is messaging at this hour?”
Second thought:
“Oh… customer.”
Third thought:
“Better answer it.”
Because apparently business hours in small business are more of a loose guideline than an actual thing. 😂
Then you’re doing your weekly metro deliveries and the bloke at the loading dock casually asks:
“So, what are you doing for the long weekend?”
The what??
WHAT LONG WEEKEND??
When is it??
Oh crap.
Suddenly you’re mentally rearranging production days, supplier pickups, deliveries, customer orders and working out how you missed an entire public holiday while the rest of Western Australia has apparently been planning for it for weeks. 🤣
Then you ask:
“Where’s the usual guy today?”
“Oh, he’s having a wellness day.”
A WHAT?
A WELLNESS DAY??
Where do I get one of those?
Is there an application form?
Do I need council approval?
Does HACCP need to sign it off?
Do I need to book it six weeks in advance?
And most importantly…
Does a wellness day involve lying somewhere very quietly where nobody can ask you if you’ve got any Boerewors left? 😂
Because sign me up.
Meanwhile, somewhere during the week…
The phone rings while your hands are covered in sausage mix.
Someone needs something “just quickly”.
A supplier changes something.
A machine makes a noise it definitely didn’t make yesterday.
You remember an invoice at 10.47pm.
You wake up at 3am remembering something vitally important.
Then by 7am you’ve completely forgotten what it was.
You go to bed thinking about work.
You wake up thinking about work.
And somewhere in between you Google “how much sleep does a human actually need?” 🤣
And holidays?
Well…
“Out of office” in small business generally just means answering emails from a different location. 😂
Such is the glamorous life of small business in the Wheatbelt.
And despite all of the chaos, long days, forgotten public holidays, freelancing sheep, football messages written on delivery boxes and random Sunday morning texts…
We honestly wouldn’t swap it.
The people, the friendships, the community, the customers and the laughs along the way are exactly why we love what we do. ❤️
BUT…
After recently discovering that “wellness days” are apparently a legitimate thing, we’ve decided to take things one step further…
We’re taking a whole wellness WEEK. 😂🍹
The Food Files will be taking a break from 3rd–10th October.
We’re going to switch off, recharge the batteries and continue our very important research into that longevity elixir.
Preferably one that comes in a tall glass, has an umbrella in it and is delivered beside a pool. 🍹🌴
We may even attempt this mysterious thing people keep talking about called “doing nothing.”
Although knowing us, we’ll probably be answering messages from a sun lounge.
Because small business. 😂❤️
