Creating and selling an organic coffee and cinnamon liqueur was poles apart from his former career as coaching development manager for Swimming New Zealand.
But through the Audacious Business Challenge, a joint initiative by the Dunedin City Council, the University of Otago School of Business and Otago Polytechnic, the business was developed and Quick Brown Fox was launched in December last year.
He acknowledged that it was unlikely to "ever be a 42 Below", referring to 42 Below vodka which founder Geoff Ross started making in the garage of his Wellington flat and went on to sell around the world and list on the New Zealand stock exchange before it was sold for $138 million. Still, Mr Haszard's business was definitely growing.
Describing it as more like a gourmet ice-cream situation, Mr Haszard said his product was handmade and crafted, noting Dunedin was getting a name for gourmet food and beverages.
Quick Brown Fox was now stocked by about 16 outlets in New Zealand, although Mr Haszard admitted his marketing strategy was "very humble".
He approached potential outlets pretending to be a customer, which gave him "a feel for the place".
He did not try to sell to places that he did not like, preferring to have it stocked in outlets where he liked the people that served it.
"It's been working a treat so far," he said.
He was grateful for the support from Dunedin businesses, particularly Strictly Coffee, which he believed was critical to the success of the liqueur.
Other liqueurs had "pseudo-foreign names" and his name, Quick Brown Fox, "came about just by an accident really". It conjured memories of learning and sharing and communicating, he said.
The label was created by artist and graphic designer Fiona Johnston and it stood out in bars, with its hand-drawn picture.
Mr Haszard was working on two more products - Lazy Dog which was "decaf and maple" and another which was still under wraps.
He expected the range would continue to expand and he saw the company getting into other markets, like Japan, Australia and the UK in the next couple of years.
It had been a steep, but enjoyable learning curve and he had also grown to love coffee.
He now employed two people on contract so it was a "pretty big change" in one year to go from being unemployed to being an employer, he said.
