Centralian Advocate, Tuesday, March 26, 2013 — 11

PU

B:

CA

DV

DA

TE

:2

6-M

AR

-20

13

PA

GE

:1

1C

OL

OR

:C

MY

K

RETAIL AND COMMERCIAL

Grape expectations

Richie Hayes with some of thegrapes grown at Rocky HillTable Grapes near AliceSprings Picture: MLULEKI MOYO

THE legacy of hard work set by theHayes family who settled in CentralAustralia in the 1870s lives on, as thesixth generation of farmers hasadded to its cattle business by pro-ducing grapes, realising a turnover ofmillions of dollars on a good season.

Richie and Jodie Hayes decidedto plant vines in 2002 in the middleof their Undoolya Station, justeast of Alice Springs, on 60ha offreehold land.

Mr Hayes said the 60,000 vinesthat belong to his Rocky Hill TableGrapes had made a difference in thefamily business.

‘‘We supply the local market inCentral Australia and go up to Bris-bane, Sydney, Melbourne and Ade-laide,’’ he said.

‘‘The period between November

and Christmas is the busiest for us aswe will be harvesting the fruit.

‘‘We started this in 2002.‘‘The whole area was a bush before

then and we just thought, Why notgive it go? I took a bulldozer andcleared the land, prepared it and didthe planting.

‘‘We picked our first produce in2003 and it was massive.’’

Mr Hayes said in any business,

marketing and accuracy were ex-tremely important.

‘‘I have a marketing manager whoknows where and when the produceis needed and there is no mistake ifyour marketing strategy is vibrant,’’he said.

‘‘The boxes have to contain theright stuff or else the whole load getsrejected. And you don’t want that tohappen so to avoid it, we havesupervisors who monitor each box’scontents to make sure everything isup to scratch.’’

Mr Hayes said his workers includedbackpackers and he would not wantthe Government to introduce condit-ions that would jeopardise visitors,who provided the much-neededlabour in the business.

‘‘I employ more than 70 of them at

any given time and they really work,’’Mr Hayes said.

‘‘Most of them come from Asia andEurope. I believe the Governmentmust not tamper with 457 visas andholiday working visas because thatwould be a hard blow to us.

‘‘We pay them very well and wegive them accommodation.’’

Mr Hayes said he was consideringinstalling solar power, because ofelectricity price rises.

‘‘I paid a million dollars to put thepowerlines and my electricity bill isnow $20,000 a month,’’ he said.

‘‘As such I think, very soon, I willstart working on using solar energy.

‘‘I hope that would reduce mypower bill.’’

Mr Hayes said he was lookingforward to a good season this year.

Landthe jobfor youPeter Starke

MAYBE you got over-looked for a job requir-ing a bachelor’s degreew h e n y o u h a da PhD.

Or maybe you didn’tget a call-back for aposition asking for fiveyears’ experiencewhen you have 10.

But why don’t em-ployers want to takeon someone who ismore than qualifiedfor their job openings?

Well, there are threemain reasons, accord-ing to AOL Jobs.

lThey worry thatthe candidate will betoo expensive

lThey assume thecandidate will leave assoon as a better oppor-tunity comes up

l They are con-cerned that the candi-date will be unhappyin the position

But how can youmake sure you stay inthe running for thejob? AOL Jobs hasfour tips:

Target the appropri-ate jobs.

Apply for jobs thatsuit your backgroundand experience. Findjobs that require theskills you have andm a k e s u r e y o u rresume addresses thejob requirements. Net-work with people.

Address the issueover the salary.

If there is a salaryrequirement with yourapplication, make sureit’s appropriate for theposition. In your coverletter and conver-s a t i o n s w i t h r e -cruiters, explain whyyou’re applying for thejob and why a highsalary may not be themost important thingfor you.

Make a time com-mitment.

Be clear on yourcommitment to theposition. Either makeit clear that the job isnot a stepping stone toa better opportunity,or for a specificamount of time inthe job.

Make a convincingcase for why the job isa good match.

All candidates mustprove they fit a jobdescription but, ifyou’re overqualified,this is more important.

Bento box brings exoticflavours to lunch breaks

Hanuman manager Edwin Molina Picture: JUSTIN BRIERTY

WELL-KNOWN Alice Springsrestaurant, Hanuman, hasintroduced a new touch of Asiato give locals a lunchtime altern-ative as well as targeting touristsas the season draws closer.

Hanuman Restaurant man-ager Edwin Molina says theyhave introduced an exotic selec-tion of Asian flavours which areproving popular with customerson lunch breaks.

‘‘We recently introduced thebento box just to prepare for thetourists season, as well as givingour local customers somethingfor their lunch,’’ he said.

‘‘We discovered that there are

people working in town whohave an hour lunch break.

‘‘They need a good meal thatwill take them through to thelatter part of the day.

‘‘So they come here and have abig dish that gives them valuefor their money.

‘‘Others give us a ring justbefore they come so that whenthey arrive the order is ready.

‘‘Some of them cannot evenfinish it because it is a big meal.

‘‘The other advantage we havewith the bento box is that itdoesn’t take time to prepare.

‘‘It takes us between 10 and 15minutes to have it ready.’’

Hanuman was established in2001 and Mr Molina said busi-ness had grown gradually.

‘‘We are known for quality . . .the feedback coming from tour-ists, locals and interstate cus-tomers is pleasing,’’ he said.

‘‘We have have had successiveyears of being awarded certifi-c a t e s o f e x c e l l e n c e b yTripAdvisor.’’

Hanuman is in the CrownePlaza and is owned by HanumanGroup. It offers a variety of Thaiand Indian dishes and is openMonday to Friday from noon to2.30pm for lunch and every nightfor dinner from 6 o’clock.