Hillcrest Christian College students Chris and Nic with Gloria Jeans Coffee world franchise owner Peter Irvine. 28369 Picture: Stewart Chambers
By Lia Bichel
GLORIA Jeans Coffee’s head honcho had Hillcrest Christian College buzzing with excitement after he made a special day trip from Sydney to speak about obstacles and accomplishments of running a world wide franchise.
On 5 May, world franchise owner Peter Irvine told staff and students how he had purchased the Australian franchise in 1996, expanded quicker than expected, and purchased the world franchise, except for USA and one South American country.
To date, Peter has over 400 stores in Australia and has stores in 35 countries.
“It was a great opportunity for students to meet a world franchise owner, and they had a lot of questions for him,” teacher Rob Wilson said.
While many businesses are suffering in the economic downturn, Mr Wilson said Mr Irvine’s franchise is continuing to prosper.
“Peter said he had checked the figures from 12 months ago and numbers are continuing to grow,” Mr Wilson said. “He said people were still prepared to spend money on a small luxury.”
Mr Irvine also told students about the importance of ethical and moral decisions when running a business.
“He spoke about social responsibility and how important faith is. It helps to control the decisions you make,” Mr Wilson said.
“It demonstrated the kind of person he is. I feel very honoured that someone of his standing in the business community would make a special trip to talk to Year 12 students.”
