French expat Coralie Schaff is heading down the slow and steady trail on her way to becoming a snail farmer in south-west Victoria.
Ms Schaff aims to grow her commercial farm to 300,000 snails to supply restaurants.
A so-called "snail consultant" says there is a niche but potentially successful market for snails in Australia.
Growing up in France, Coralie Schaff often went snail hunting with her father and siblings.
She now does the same thing with her six-year-old son in Victoria's Otway Ranges.
But instead of covering the snails they find in garlic butter, she adds them into a custom-made pen that 3,000 other snails already call home.
"I want to grow the pens to be able to, at capacity, have close to 300,000 snails," Ms Schaff said.
She has set out to start a commercial snail farm, which, according to her research, will be the only one of its kind in Australia.
"As of today, all of the snails eaten in Australia are imported, so there is a market that we can fill," Ms Schaff said.
The idea came about after she and her husband purchased 21 hectares of land in the green hills of Beech Forest.
Looking for a unique way to utilise the property, she went to France in April last year to visit some snail farms…
