While it took a little while for Australians to adapt to the expense of quality coffee, once the delicious flavoured blends offered by Gloria Jean’s Coffee hit their tastebuds there was no turning back. Coffee time at your local Gloria Jean’s café became the ‘chic’ thing to do that was cheaper than lunch but just as tasty.
Peter Irvine joined Andrew McLennan on 20Twenty to talk about how he started the Gloria Jean’s Coffee franchises in Australia. Peter is a seasoned business leader, keynote speaker, and an author with a passion for empowering individuals and organisations to integrate faith into their daily lives and businesses. He was the co-founder of Gloria Jean’s Coffee and is now the CEO of Kingdom Momentum Limited. He’s dedicated to supporting leaders and organisations in transforming communities and expanding God’s Kingdom all across the globe.
Gloria Jean’s Coffee Birthed at a Church Meeting
Peter was presented with the opportunity to bring Gloria Jean’s Coffee to Australia through his Connect Group leaders at his church. Having worked in advertising for 30 years, the idea sat well with Peter. Since it wasn’t contrary to God’s Word and had the potential to create income that would build God’s Kingdom, Peter committed to the concept. The next step was a trip to America to negotiate the rights to set up franchises in Australia. A year later Gloria Jean’s Coffee was launched in Australia.
‘We sensed it was what God was leading us to do. We didn’t really know how big or where it was going to go. We thought a few stores would be it. God had different plans,’ said Peter.
Good Quality Coffee
Part of the success story behind Gloria Jean’s Coffee was that it was good quality coffee. People were used to instant coffee, which is highly processed, or the $1 cappuccinos. So, with Gloria Jean’s Coffee blends, you could definitely taste the quality. The different flavoured coffee blends and iced coffee and caramel blended drinks with whipped cream were new to Australia, so people were curious to try them.
One of the secrets to business success is to make sure you have good quality products or services and create a niche market or something completely new to offer people.
Coming Under Spiritual Attack
There’s a misconception among Christians that when you start a business or project with the intention of glorifying God that it will be problem free, and the blessings will pour in. Peter can testify that at some point, usually at the beginning, problems will start.
‘You come under attack immediately. You’ve got a bull’s eye on you when you put it out there,’ said Peter. ‘There are a lot of obstacles, difficulties, criticism, and everything that went on for all those years.’
It seems to be a sure sign you’re onto something when you get a lot of spiritual resistance. That’s where the importance of prayer and Godly counsel with other Christian leaders comes in to ensure that your plans are guided by God.
Believe in Your Product
People will buy just about anything if you market it right, but only the highest quality stands the test of time.
‘You have to believe in the product. You can launch a product that’s poor quality and you can get uptake from people, but it dies very quickly if it doesn’t deliver,’ said Peter. ‘A lot of people wanted us to change what we did to suit what they were used to in the way coffee was served and the price charged. We were premium priced because it’s the high-quality beans that you pay a high kilo price for from the growers. It protects their livelihood.’
Peter said that not many people understood that a premium product comes with a premium price. People were used to drinking cheap instant coffee. It took time for people to appreciate the difference. Once they acquired the taste of good coffee, they realised that the quality and flavour of Gloria Jean’s Coffee beans merited the price.
Prepare a Business Plan
Other helpful factors in running a successful business are to understand how the business model works and be familiar with the product or service. Having worked in advertising, Peter had marketing knowledge. He understood who the right target market was for the business product. He was also familiar with how franchises worked.
Peter’s partner was involved in coffee procurement, sourcing and buying the green beans, roasting, distribution, and getting the product into Australia.
Between the two of them, they were able to pull together a plan to be able to start and grow with the very little money they had to make it work. To Peter’s surprise Gloria Jean’s Coffee franchise grew to 1,000 stores in 39 countries before they sold the business in 2014 and went their separate ways to start new endeavours.
Peter Irvine is now the CEO of Kingdom Momentum Ltd, a keynote speaker for Business, Leadership & Churches, author of Win in Business and Building Your Business, Your People, Your Life, and Co-Founder of Gloria Jean’s Coffees Australia.
Peter established Kingdom Momentum Ltd, an organisation that exists to support and train Christian business leaders church leaders, pastors, and organisations in transforming communities and expanding God’s kingdom in Australia and around the world.
For more information on Peter, visit www.kingdom-momentum.com.au
To listen to Peter’s full interview with Andrew, click the link below:
