Pic Picot

Some businesses begin with years of research. Pic Picot's started with breakfast.

Opening a jar of supermarket peanut butter one morning in 2007, he was struck by how little it resembled the food he thought he was buying. It was sweet, heavily processed and, in his words, "disgusting". Rather than accepting that as the way peanut butter was made, he wondered what would happen if he simply roasted good peanuts, added a little salt and left everything else out. That question became the foundation of Pic's Peanut Butter.

Working from a garage in Nelson with little more than a concrete mixer and an instinct for what people would enjoy eating, Pic built a premium brand in a category dominated by low prices and supermarket branded labels. Friends sold jars at farmers' markets, customers persuaded supermarkets to stock them, and what began as a small local venture steadily reshaped expectations of what peanut butter could be. Today, Pic's is New Zealand's leading peanut butter brand, exporting around 40 per cent of its production while employing 50 people and attracting visitors from around the world to Peanut Butter World in Nelson.

The business reflects Pic's wider philosophy that commercial success should leave communities stronger than it found them. Under his leadership, Pic's became the world's first solar-powered peanut roastery, achieved one of the highest B Corp scores in its category and helped establish the Food Factory, giving emerging food businesses access to commercial manufacturing. His approach to leadership has also created opportunities for people to grow within the business, with team members progressing from factory roles into senior positions.

Even as the business enters its next chapter under second-generation family leadership, Pic remains its storyteller, chief peanut butter evangelist and relentless champion for doing simple things exceptionally well.