Pic Picot started selling his peanut butter at the Nelson market in 2007, to "sell on the side and just get a bit of pocket money". After a year he was forced to buy a small factory, then a larger one and now his team is building 'Pic's peanut butter world; a "huge" factory to keep up with international demand.
On Thursday the peanut butter magnate gave The AM Show a definitive answer on that age old debate crunchy or smooth?
"Oh crunchy, I'm a crunchy guy," he told the show, before admitting, "But we do make these slugs which are snack thing and they're smooth, and that's got me eating smooth which I never thought would happen."
Currently Pic's employs 45 members of staff, which Picot says is "so cool".
"That's one of the things I really love about doing stuff is being able to hire people."
He says often they're those who have travelled away and on coming back "they don't want to live in a second rate city like Auckland or Wellington".
"They come to Nelson and its fantastic. We've got some really cool people but we'd love more."
The 'Willy Wonka of nuts' says there's "no secret" to making good peanut butter.
"We get really good peanuts, roast them, squash them and put them in a jar."
And his advice for Kiwis wanting to start their own nut empire?
"If you can have some passion about something…you can't build a story later on. If you can start with 'real' people really appreciate it."
Watch the AM Show video above.
Newshub.
