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Zarraffa’s Coffees mum and daughter team brews up business

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Working with her mum was nothing new for franchisee Danielle Cook.

“We both worked for Rebel Group and Amart, and I was a store manager at Brisbane city stores and Mum was a department manager. I’d been with the group for nearly 10 years and I was looking for something a bit different. I wanted my own business.”

Danielle looked at a few different franchise models, but Zarraffa’s Coffees and the support network provided won over the pair.

“We spoke to other franchisees at the time. Mum frequented one cafe, and we would talk to a couple of franchisees – they were great advocates. We loved how Zarraffa’s had a family-oriented culture inset in values which aligned with our own.”

The Warwick connection

Danielle expressed interest in opening a franchise, and ended up with an option in Warwick, not Brisbane. That meant relocating, but for the two women it was going home to a town with family history.

“Mum’s sixth generation here,” Danielle said. “It was uncanny. The site was really good, in a fantastic location, and both of us were wanting a change in our lives.”

The Zarraffa’s Coffees mum and daughter team signed up in 2010 and opened the doors in 2011.

“We’re both living in Warwick now. I love it, wouldn’t move back to Brisbane in a hurry. I love the quiet community – there’s a different culture, it’s a friendly town. I think that was evident after we had a break-in when we’d been open just a few months. We had fantastic support from local community – people sending us flowers and checking in on us.”

They have been running the business for seven years and have ambitions to grow further, but expansion within a small town has its limitations. The Coffee Club has opened up, and there are a host of boutique coffee houses, but the drive-through remains a specialty. So the focus for the Zarraffa’s Coffees mum and daughter team is to give back to the local community through sponsorship of sporting groups and charities, to try and be the number one coffee brand.

A family focus

Danielle says the staff in this drive-through are like family, which when moving to a new town (even though they had connections there) proved invaluable and was “second to none” in helping the pair transition.

“We’ve had a lot of challenges but we very rarely disagree.”

The difficulties include serious illness in the family, with Tracey taking on a full-time carer role for six months. That took her out of the store and inevitably shifted the load heavily onto Danielle. The situation has eased now, but she admits the health scare presented a massive challenge.

“When things like this happen, you get a slap on the face to know what’s important. Business is – but family is more important, so I had to step up and run the business so Mum didn’t have to worry.

“We’re also trying to step back a bit. We’re both very much in the business and work long hours and big weeks.”

The Zarraffa’s Coffees mum and daughter team are establishing a strong team of staff members who can meet the challenge of operating the cafe without either of the franchisees around and allow them to take a well-deserved holiday.

Zarraffa’s Coffees mum and daughter team experience

Their previous experience of working together has served them well now they are joint franchisees, and the natural family bond overrides any external challenges.

“I think it’s because Mum knows me better than anyone she knows when something is not right – she’s very protective. I know if I’m struggling she’ll step up.

“Mum’s my best mate, I know that she has my back regardless of what happens,” reveals Danielle. “We complement each other: Mum’s a bit more gung ho, she’s very open, tells people what she’s thinking.

“I’m more reserved, I do the bookkeeping, I make coffees. She’s the brand ambassador.

I’m very much at the forefront of things but sometimes I spread myself too thin.

“I’m front and centre as the barista and doing the bookkeeping; Mum takes care of food sales and food prep.

“We have an equal share in the business, and I think we’re very similar in what we want. We don’t expect to be millionaires, we  just want to be comfortable, to cover our own bills and enjoy what we do.”

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