Matt (along with his wife, Jade) owns and runs Choklits. Jade and Matt have two young children and are both passionate about learning and strongly believe that all children have the right to be safe, loved and should all be set up for the best chance at success in life.
Over to Matt…
I began my working life delivering newspapers before settling on a career as a maintenance plumber. After working and studying to become qualified and licensed I started and grew my own high end plumbing company and serviced some of Melbourne’s most expensive and exclusive homes and business locations for luxury brands such as Kay & Burton and Lamborghini. In 2016, Jade and I purchased Choklits Child Care in Ringwood.Â
Developing people and building teams has always been a passion of mine. A little while back a past team member of our plumbing company called to ask me if I had realised that everyone who came through our apprentice program now works for themselves and runs their own business. I hadn’t at the time, but it’s something I’m pretty proud of. When Jade and I purchased Choklits Child Care we had just nine team members, by mid 2022 our team (who now care for and educate hundreds of children everyday) had passed one hundred. Growing the Choklits Community is one of our favourite things in the world!Â
Jade and I are often asked why we decided to enter the child care industry and the answer is pretty simple- when we needed child care for our own young children we couldn’t find anywhere we were really happy and comfortable leaving them. There were options but we really felt that children, especially very young children, deserved more than we found. And, parents deserved a much higher level of support and guidance finding early learning centres. So, we decided to do something about that which led us to Choklits and our commitment to run Choklits from our perspective as parents and in the best interest of all our children, including our own who attended Choklits before they started school. They still like to visit on the weekends whenever there’s pocket money to be earned.
When I’m not at Choklits I’m usually thinking about ways we can grow and improve Choklits! I also love cycling, basketball and spending time with my family, especially holidaying and discovering new places. I’m also the runner for my sons footy team and coach of my daughters basketball team. Like many parents, I feel like chasing my two children around throughout the week is fitness program in itself!!