Mr Sollie is managing director of Konig Gourmet Foods, a Green Island-based company which, for many years, has quietly gone about its business.
Mostly, it has been exporting specialised orders of specialty meat products to customers in Scandinavia.
Now it has launched into the retail and domestic market with a range of beef jerky products, inspired by Mr Sollie's travels and love for food and spices, and he has high hopes for its potential.
The jerky was launched on the market this month, with the intention of export in the future, and already the feedback had been very encouraging.
''The sky's the limit,'' he said enthusiastically.
Norwegian-born Mr Sollie came from a family background of generations of drying, curing and smoking meat and fish.
In 1905, his grandfather and great-grandfather started a smoking business, while his grandmother branched into a delicatessen and restaurant.
He grew up next-door to the smokehouse and both his parents were involved in it from an early age.
Mr Sollie spent 12 years travelling before returning to New Zealand, after meeting a ''Kiwi girl'', and settling in Dunedin in 1989, where he initially became known for his smoked salmon.
In 2000, he was asked by a Norwegian company to produce certain specialty foods. He took up the offer, turning to export of specialty cuts, salted cured and dried meat products in 2002.
Several years ago, Mr Sollie was looking for options, due to the seasonal nature of the business, and started developing beef jerky, a process which had cost about $150,000.
He took his experiences from travelling, combined with his love of food, and came up with five products - North African, Smokey Joe, Central Otago, which featured thyme and rosemary, Hot Mexican, and Middle Eastern.
It was available in Dunedin, Wanaka and Queenstown and interest had been shown from a retailer in Auckland.
Mr Sollie wanted to put Dunedin ''on the map'' for beef jerky production and he believed there was potential for his product to do that.
''The sky's the limit,'' he said.
It was a premium, natural product, made from lean topside beef, and with no additives or preservatives.
Konig Gourmet Foods employed seven staff, including Mr Sollie, and he believed about eight additional staff could be hired once beef jerky production for export eventuated, with the possibility also of larger premises.
''Whenever you ask, people like beef jerky. Everyone knows what it's all about, it's an easy sell that way,'' he said.
But because the company had been ''under the radar'' for many years, there was also a need to now raise awareness and get brand recognition.
It worked in its favour because it was using the local market to ''learn a lot'' and it was a good way to get into the retail market, he said.
The company's traditional export market was going well, with about 12 containers - or about 122 tonnes of product - exported each year, destined for the likes of shipping, oil rigs and embassies.
Konig Gourmet Foods was a finalist in the international trader award in this year's Westpac-Otago Chamber of Commerce Supreme Business Awards.
When it came to challenges in the business, the biggest was the ''stress of the unknown'', which included the likes of price, the economy, and sourcing raw materials.
Being a foreigner, it had been a struggle to get the right contacts but, on the flipside, Dunedin had been an easy city in which to start a business.
It was a ''fantastic'' place to be an exporter, with weekly shipping to Europe.
It was also ''very easy living'' in Dunedin, which meant the standard of living was also good, he said.
An avid climber, who loved spending time in the mountains, Mr Sollie acknowledged that he missed his homeland, although when he returned there, he missed Dunedin.
''It's the familiar; the smells and the summers and the food that is part of you. It's deeply ingrained in you, that never goes away ... but that doesn't mean that you can't love another place,'' he said.
