What’s happened to Eagle Boys since you left?
A lot of changes. They’ve pretty much watered down the two minute pizza so that hasn’t become a guaranteed item any more.
Is that a mistake?
I don’t know. They’ve expanded the menu dramatically into various items. They’ve gone into a gourmet market. A lot of areas that I certainly wouldn’t have done but I don’t really know what the outcome is yet.
So since you’ve left the jury is out on how they’re travelling?
Yes.
Do you know how their revenue’s going?
They’re certainly opening up a lot of stores. We were probably opening up 25 to 30 stores a year when I was there. One of the reasons I sold was because the company needed more capital to take it to the next level and that’s why a venture capital group came in and said okay here’s some cash, let’s have a non-dividend policy for the next five years and grow it faster and harder. So that side of things is certainly happening.
What was it like when you left, was it heart wrenching?
No, not really. The decision had been made probably a year and a half before. We had a couple of pretty good offers during that time. We sort of made a very clear plan as to who we wanted to sell to, why we wanted to sell and what we wanted to get for it and we stuck to it. And basically once that came along it was like, okay let’s do it and move on. So I probably decided that it was an unemotional move that had to be made at least two years before.
And did it take that much time to get ready for the sale?
I think so, yes. I mean the mob that we ended up selling to took a long time. They probably took a year hovering around and doing their due diligence. I wasn’t in a huge hurry to run out the door, the company was doing well, it was making plenty of money. It was not like I was desperate to get out or anything like that.
So what’s next? You’ve started your own new venture, tell us about that. How old are you now?
46.
Well they say it usually takes a little bit longer to get bored and start the next big thing.
I had two years off and in that two years I sort of had a year where I just did nothing and travelled and then went back out and got stuck into the public speaking circuit. I seriously considered whether I wanted to become a professional director.
So you’ve had the time off, did the circuit. Did those things bore you?
I’m still a speaker, I still probably do 100 a year but that’s jump on a plane, go to Sydney in the morning, fly home in the afternoon kind of stuff. But it was more about making a decision as to what I want to do for the next probably five years. Professional public speaker? No, a bit boring.
Professional director?
Professional director – frustrating. I’ve been on boards of various private and public companies and I find it to be extremely difficult to penetrate through to management.
So what is the issue there, you want to have a more hands on role?
I’ll give you an example. When I was on the board at Brumby’s, there were too many directors, they all had different agendas, the company was sluggish to say the least. It was opening as many stores as it was closing. So I really thumped my hand on the table and said come on guys let’s get a strategy in place. I mean, Baker’s Delight have come from nothing and tripled the size of where we are. We need to improve the model, we need to reinvest. Everybody was in there looking at the ceiling and looking at the floor and I thought I can’t achieve anything here. And it was just one of those things where you go, turn up, do your job, get paid. If I’m not going to actually make a difference, why be here?
Is there any way that you can vet before you take on a board position and see if you can make a difference?
Look I’ve done that and what they say in some cases and what they do are two different things. So it’s a turkey shoot and sometimes I achieve a lot. I’ve got to say the time that I’ve spent on the AFL Commission has been really good, we’ve seen some great results.
What’s different there then?
They’ve definitely got a longer term strategy. They’ve got good people, they understand business, they understand the sport. They’ve got a good mix of the right people to get the job done. And in the most cases there isn’t a hidden agenda. You see a lot of those guys are sitting there saying let’s pump the share price, they’re saying let’s create a great sporting business.
So you’ve now decided to get back, roll your sleeves up and get your hands dirty, what are you doing?
Well the first one’s open, Crusty Devil and what I’ve seen is a continuous decline in the bakery, particularly hot bread business over the last 10 years. It’s been driven by a couple of reasons, one of them is category killers like The Coffee Club and Muffin Break have come in and then you’ve got the vast majority of independent bakeries which are extremely run down, tired, grubby, hot, uncomfortable and with a very small range.
We decided to go the other way. Most of these little hot bread shops do eight and 10 grand a week and the product’s not great, so let’s build bakeries that do $30,000 and $40,000 a week. Put in a lot of signature products, produce all our own pies, all our own cakes, use all fresh creams, fresh custards. Just one of those “if we build it, they will come” approaches. And once we get the model right, build some drive throughs and start opening these places up 24 hours a day. I’ve been to Adelaide, there’s a couple over there that do very well, there’s certainly some great bakeries in Melbourne. I tell you Queensland is really years behind a lot of the other states.
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