That is what Whitestone Cheese settled on what it wanted to be after reviewing its strategy over the past few years and looking at how big it wanted to get.
Referring to the book, Small Giants, which looked at 14 companies that chose to march to their own drummer, it was decided it was an apt description.
That decision to focus on the domestic market paid off for the Oamaru-based business with the unexpected arrival of a global pandemic.
Chairwoman Sarah Ottrey joined the board in 2012. She was inducted into Columba College’s Business Hall of Fame the same day as co-founder Sue Berry.
Soon after, Mrs Berry’s husband, Bob, phoned Mrs Ottrey — already a professional director — and asked if she would be interested in Whitestone Cheese.
"I said, ‘I’ll come over and have a look’. I thought ‘what a great heart and soul the business had’," she recalled.
She loved the Berrys’ philosophy — right from the beginning, Bob Berry had been an open thinker, including establishing a board about 2006.
He was always into new things; technology was a big one, and that was now pervasive throughout the organisation.
When Covid hit, Whitestone Cheese was in a position — because of the philosophy and ethos of the company, being agile and open, and having a tight board — that it could make decisions quickly.
It was all about protecting the business and the people in it.
"I just find it a really positive environment because anything’s possible here," Ms Ottrey said.
People asked her why the business stayed in Oamaru when it could have moved to a larger centre. Her response was it had access to high quality milk off the surrounding limestone soils and great staff. It owned its own site and there were "a lot of good things about being here".
Simon Berry — son of Bob and Sue — who now runs the business, agreed that "you don’t have to be massive to be successful".
The value of a board of directors was "exceptional" and one of the key factors at Whitestone Cheese was having Ms Ottrey’s exposure to boards of other companies, he said.
It was a company that was born out of diversity when Rogernomics struck rural North Otago farming families in the 1980s.
There was a constant focus on quality and, as essential workers, the business had continued through the pandemic, but just had to adapt.
Staff respected the safety measures that were adopted early, whether the sanitiser at all entry points, the rapid antigen tests or SaferMe technology.
The key was that work could be a safe and enjoyable place and it was about keeping people motivated, Mr Berry said.
Whitestone Cheese opened a cheese bar in Auckland last year, in the heart of the Viaduct, and he was thankful the Oamaru operation could help it "limp along".
He was awaiting the return of office workers in the area during the week. Weekends had been busy, but people needed to have a reason to go out.
But there was "light at the end of the tunnel" and they would get through it. While food service had been affected, online sales had increased, as people chose quality products to dine in at home.
It was gratifying to not have had to dump any cheese.
Ms Ottrey said the focus on the New Zealand market was a good decision made before Covid arrived. "We haven’t been thinking, ‘where can we get a container to send to China?"’
And there was a lot of pride in saying a company could be "world-class right here". "You always want to turn up for work somewhere you feel motivated and happy and there’s great things going on.
"It doesn’t always need to be a company turning over $10billion, even though I have one of those," she said, referring to EBOS Group.
But the feeling around the board table, be it at Whitestone Cheese or EBOS, was not that dissimilar. It was all about the quality of people involved.
"This is a family business at the end of the day ... and it’s their livelihood. You want to protect that for them and make sure that becomes inter-generational as well."
And the burning question as to her favourite cheese? Ms Ottrey laughed, saying "I’m a sheep farmer’s daughter from West Otago. My favourite is Monte Cristo which is sheep’s milk cheese."
But then, she added, she was quite fond of the Five Forks, which was a mix of goat and cow milk.
"They’re all good," she laughed.
