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Hudsons Coffee – toasting 10 years of success

Sarah Stowe

For the business duo, itÕs been a busy decade, growing the local business from the flagship store on Elizabeth Street to more than 47 stores across every state in Australia. As with all business success stories, the idea for Hudsons Coffee started with a light-bulb moment.

Long-time friends Mark and Ros had been travelling across North America and Europe, one coffee sip at a time. After sampling coffees from a variety of vendors from Seattle street stalls to French bistros, they soon realised that Australians were missing a trick.

With a background in hospitality gained from a combined 40 years working for McDonalds, the duo was well-positioned to take on the coffee retail industry. Combining MarkÕs corporate background with RosÕ experiences as a multi-store franchisee, they began exploring how they could maximise the opportunity to make great quality coffee available to busy Australians on the go.

Efficiency the main focus

The main focus of Mark and RosÕ business plan was efficiency: “With a time-poor target customer, it was essential that we streamlined the process so buying a quality coffee was quick and convenient.”

There was one ingredient in the business plan that couldnÕt be altered however — the coffee.

“We were targeting Hudsons Coffee to a discerning market so getting the coffee right was paramount to our success. We searched long and hard to find a blend of the best quality beans that we could serve in-store. Everyone in the business knows that the coffee is God.”

In little over five years, Hudsons Coffee had grown from one to 25 stores. With a proven success model under their belt, Mark and Ros were ready to make the move into franchising.

“It was imperative that we had a tried, tested and foolproof business model before launching into the franchise market. You canÕt start bringing franchisees on board with a business model that youÕre not entirely comfortable with — that was a risk we just werenÕt willing to take,” he said.

An existing store in South Australia (Hudsons CoffeeÕs second biggest market) was the first franchise. Now nearly half of the 47 Hudsons Coffee stores are franchise operations.

The right people

According to Mark, the successful move into franchising has come from being able to find the right people.

“We have very stringent selection processes. Applicants go through a series of interviews, an in-store evaluation and a directorÕs interview – so itÕs quite comprehensive. When you get the right people theyÕll always do a better job because theyÕve got skin in the game.”

More recently, Hudsons Coffee has identified opportunities in the hospital and airport markets with airport stores in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Launceston and soon Brisbane.

FRANCHISE INFORMATION

Company name: Hudsons Coffee

Contact: Chloe Gibb Phone: 03 9631 0205

Email: franchise@hudsonscoffee.com.au

Website: www.hudsonscoffee.com.au