Travelling for Boost took me back to those early years wandering the world before Boost began — and between missed flights, lost luggage and stumbling straight into meetings without sleep, it sometimes felt like I hadn’t advanced much on my backpacker days! Definitely those early years as a traveller helped to prepare me for the rigours and surprises of working in new environments overseas.

A rainbow of culture

Focusing on international markets and travelling for Boost meant I experienced all kinds of amazing cultural practices, from the boardroom to national festivals. I have honoured the practice of Ramadan during a visit to Malaysia and sat opposite a full Arab board, in traditional white flowing dishdasha, in Kuwait. On the king’s birthday in Thailand I have worn traditional yellow in celebration, and acknowledged the hierarchy order when entering a room. I’ve even learned the simple but important ways to present your business card in different cultures.

My most memorable day-to-day experiences come from sampling local fruits as we localise the menu in each region. Each location has its own unique local fruits — some of which I’d never tasted before — and this made for some very interesting tastes. Some that were not necessarily that good, but some that were amazing surprise discoveries!

A major challenge of working internationally is the language barrier. This sometimes requires interpreters, extending even to the interpretation of body language. It was interesting to discover that some gestures are not universal — and some gestures you really need to keep to yourself in particular countries if you don’t want to offend people in the street! Sometimes simply being a woman in business is novel in itself. In some countries we visit, women have the same rights as men in the workplace. But this isn’t the case everywhere and we have experienced countries where the notion of gender equality does not sit easily. Through personal experience, foreign businesswomen will be treated with great respect and courtesy but, regardless of the actual seniority of our party, there is still an assumption that the male present will naturally be the decision-maker. But I have never found this to be an obstacle for me in business — again, there is a lot to be said for the power of being underestimated!

Rise of a global empire

Back in the early days of Boost, when we were running the business out of our own home and testing recipes in the kitchen, I never thought I’d be writing about how our little operation had grown into a global empire. But having grown Boost into Australia’s largest juice bar, focusing on taking the concept offshore seemed a logical next step. We now have over 600 stores operating throughout Australia and around the world, and we’re operating in more countries than any other juice bar in the world. This far exceeds my wildest dreams at the start of the journey. We’ve seen absolutely amazing growth, with an average of two countries and 30 stores opening somewhere in the world each year for the past four years. And the journey isn’t over back home either, with new stores opening in Australia every month.

You have to grow your business; it’s your job as a business owner. Each year you need to grow the business and find ways to improve and be the best you can be, and growing internationally was one of the strategies that we implemented to achieve this. Our international strategy was not to look at a region and focus on it, which is what many advisors would tell you to do. Ours was a ‘master franchise’ strategy, where you grant the right to a partner to grow your brand in another country. For this strategy to be successful, rather than focusing on finding the right region, you need to focus on getting the right international partner — a partner who understands the brand and what it takes to be successful. They need the right capital and the right attitude and then maybe they will succeed. Unless you have done it, no-one truly understands how hard it is to create a brand from scratch. It takes time, money and sometimes everything you have to create a brand. It has taken over 10 years to get to a point where we have finally got some critical mass in some territories, but the vision to be the world’s most loved and known brand will become a reality — I’m just not sure exactly when!

Pausing to reflect

The birth of Tahlia gave me and Jeff time to reflect on what was important in our lives. After riding this incredible 50-foot wave of business, we asked ourselves, ‘What do we really want out of life and what does the future look like?’ At the time we were over 14 years into starting Boost and, even after creating Retail Zoo, we had all of our eggs in one basket. We were also aware that we needed more expertise in the international markets — although we were having some success overseas, we knew we could do it better.

Since the beginning of Boost, we have owned various percentages of the business during different times. I had never been overly concerned about the percentage we held. I focused more on the value of that percentage, having enough percentage to ensure that we maintained control of the direction of Boost (which is an important lesson — know thy shareholders agreement). Other than that, having the right partners was always the more important aspect of this balance, and making certain that all partners could contribute within their field of expertise.

Throughout the whole journey of Boost Juice, we had talked about the many ways of growth. Going public into the ASX was discussed a number of times. We spoke to a friend of ours who was an expert in the field and he described the various options. One was private equity (PE). We had never considered PE before as we had heard some horror stories from people who had gone down that path. If you have an open mind, however, you never know where this can lead, and that is what we adopted. We began to research all of our options and realised the right PE partner would provide us with capital out of the business for personal use and put capital into the business for growth, also allowing us to find someone with strong experience in the international marketplace.

We retained the services of a friend’s financial services company, Wingate, embarking on a new learning curve — selling part of our business. The important thing for us was that we maintained real control of the business —we would still control the day-to-day operations. Where our chosen PE partner came in would be to assist us in our international expansion, share their expertise at a board level and be a good supportive partner as we continued to grow Retail Zoo.

During the initial interview process, we met PE companies that were true shockers — some of which we wouldn’t ever consider doing business with, as it felt like we would be playing with the devil. We were then introduced to Riverside, an American company. After meeting all the partners in Riverside, we were quite comfortable they could meet our objectives and would be a good fit for Retail Zoo.

We started discussing a possible deal with the partners at Riverside. Selling part of my fifth child was an excruciating experience for me. However, I knew it was the right move to make on a very personal level, enabling us to take hold of opportunities that we have always dreamed of.

We still maintained a major share in the business and, more importantly, we still controlled the day-to-day operations of the business. The reality of any decision is that you never know for sure how it will play out. There is always a ‘honeymoon period’, when everyone is on their best behaviour. Fortunately, it turned out that our new investors are good to work with. The honeymoon period was over and Riverside continued focusing on what they do best — finding new acquisitions for Retail Zoo — and leaving us to do what we do best.

When PE firms get involved in any business, largely they do not have a passion for that particular business; they simply have a business model. That model is basically to buy businesses for their fund and for that business to return three times the cash back to them in a relatively short period of time — normally between three to five years. Some business founders get angry that they do not understand the business or have the passion for the business. For me it was always clear, as I understand their business model. I do not expect them to get excited about the new juice range that we are launching, or the new digital campaign that has gone crazy. I did, however, expect them to respect how the business was created.

Most people from the PE world have never owned a business and have only been in the corporate arena. They have no understanding of what it takes to grow and develop a brand or how to fix it when it goes pear-shaped. They only have experiences with businesses from the outside. I think sometimes they find the founders, with their passionate drive, a necessary evil instead of the asset that they invested in. I have heard dozens of stories of founders selling their businesses, with the investor happy for them to move on or pushing them out — only to find a few years later that their investment is worth half or less than they originally bought. Business are created with passion and focus. Often it is only the founder that understands the DNA of the business because they created it and know how it ticks. On the other hand, there are some founders who cannot open their eyes to new ideas and get caught up in the past. You have to have a balance of both — that is where the true magic is. If businesses are only just about the money, then the business will be short-lived. Don’t get me wrong, thank goodness for PE firms, as they are a great way for shareholders and founders to realise some of the value from their business — and they also know many tricks to drive returns. At the same time, it can be frustrating that they do not understand the business and often make suggestions and calls that are wrong because of this.

Dealing with investors or PE firms is 100 per cent fine if the business is going well. Success gives you freedom and power. Businesses have cycles, and if you are in a more challenging cycle and the business is not delivering the returns then the PE firm can and will jump in to protect their investment. The secret to doing business with a PE firm is be successful. (I know: easy, right?) They will leave you to get on with the job, release their return and move on to another business.

With Riverside we had enormous success under Jeff’s leadership, with double-digit growth. The relationship with Riverside was strong and supportive. However, like all PE firms, there comes the time that they need to move on from the investment and put their shares in the business up for sale. Off we went again, speaking to more PE firms who may want to invest. The process is time-consuming and does take your eye off the ball, but it is also very healthy for a business. I always found that if another business does due diligence on you, they will find all your faults, and I am a huge one on continuous improvement. Often the business is better because of it.

Eventually, with much back and forth, Riverside sold their shares to Bain, a large PE firm once again based in the United States. We really liked the team that Bain had; they were smart and motivated. It was here that we learned another lesson: people leave firms, and those you think you are working with today may not be who you work with in a month’s time. With Riverside, we dealt with the same people from the start to the end of the process. Bain had a little bit more of a revolving door, so who we started with was not who we finished with — which made it very difficult for them to truly understand the business. I think my point here is that, when you get into bed with any partner, make sure your eyes are wide open. And always remember why you went down the partnership path in the first place.

How to do yourself out of a job

Jeff and I believe that our job is to always do ourselves out of a job by surrounding ourselves with and developing strong, ambitious executives who are ready to take the mantle and grow. Prior to Bain coming into the business Jeff had made the decision after seven years to step down from CEO and move into the Chairman position. At the time, Scott was flying in his role of GM of Boost Juice: he had converted to paper cups and launched new lines that were enabling the business to really prosper. He had that entrepreneurial flair that is rare in non-founder CEOs. Boost was going strong. When Jeff decided to step down as CEO, his natural successor was Scott. Scott got a new office and a big title and off he went. His leadership style was very inclusive and he was a much-loved CEO who did well for a number of years. Like any business, however, there are cycles, and there are different CEOs for different times in a business. Riverside as a partner were very hands off; Bain, however, were very hands on and deep into the numbers. Being a more entrepreneurial CEO, it was difficult for Scott to have that creative flair; he was torn between the additional pressure of hitting numbers and trying to solve the millions of challenges in each business. It is no mean feat to make sure your business grows every year, and Boost was going okay, but not to the level it needed to be. At the end of the day, it was not a good fit and Scott moved on to other opportunities. While Jeff was very close to Scott and was sad to see him go, we all knew it was time.

Change is always good in a business as it brings new ideas and new enthusiasm … The biggest killer of business is ‘We have always done it that way’. I hate that line. I love new people who have a curious mind and can keep changing and evolving.

Scott’s departure opened the door for new executives with new ideas. Sometimes a business can get stale with the same people and needs new blood and new ways of doing business. I always love to promote from within, but sometimes it is also a good idea to get people from other businesses with other experiences. After many months of searching, we hired a Canadian who had worked in Food and Beverage all around the world and had great success. He was high in detail and knew how to drive profit; he was nearly the opposite to Scott, who was very creative. This new CEO was all structure. In fairness, it was exactly what the business needed after a more creative CEO: fresh eyes over the business on ways we could be better and more efficient.

No matter how good a CEO, or any executive for that matter, is, it takes months to get your head around a business. There were a number of things in the businesses that Jeff and I were not that happy with and it was important for us to set up the new CEO for success. We looked at the business with a critical eye and made some hard calls with regard to executive moves. We hired a gun who was from the supermarket world, Claire Lauber, and Jeff enticed a previous employee, Joanne Bradley, whom Jeff believed was the best in the business, back. They were a dynamic team, a perfect mix. In a short period of time the business was once again flying. It drives me mad when people put up with average performance for too long; I have seen time and time again the difference one person in a senior role can make to a business but often people are too scared or busy to make the change.

For the last 10 years, we have always been on the lookout for young and exciting brands. Under the Retail Zoo banner we have Boost, Salsa’s and an amazing South Australian brand called Cibo. Retail Zoo is about growth and we needed to find another business for our business.

We absolutely love Noosa and for months there was a vacant spot near the roundabout on Hastings Street. We often wondered what we could put in there. One day a new burger place popped up called Betty’s Burgers. It was an instant hit, with lines around the corner from morning to night — this was finally the business we were looking for. Jeff contacted the founder, David Hales, a dynamic and successful guy from Tasmania who had owned and worked in pubs there for years. He has the passion and the drive to understand what it takes to make a successful business. Jeff met with David and started the conversation. After months of back and forth, and many burgers later, a deal was done and Betty’s Burgers came under the Retail Zoo banner. This is an incredible brand that has that X factor that you are always looking for. David has gone on to other ventures and will no doubt create another amazing brand. In the meantime we have the pleasure of growing this brand into a leading burger brand in Australia.

With the maturity of the Boost brand and the growth of Betty’s Burgers, Retail Zoo had the perfect growth platform to take the business to the next level.

What do I want to be when I grow up?

Boost Juice is a vastly different company from when we started — as it should be. Having now stepped into a director’s role, I do miss the dynamics of solving a problem, leading a big team and feeling like you are under fire. I don’t miss the legal battles, some of the HR issues and the grind that can in fact break any entrepreneurial spirit.

Like when raising children, there is always a time that you need to pull back — allow new people with new ideas to take the business to the next level.

Boost was all-consuming and it did take me away from my relationship and my kids; I was and probably still am obsessed with the business. Stepping back allowed me to do things like Shark Tank and Survivor , both of which were extraordinary experiences. I am the eternal student, and getting involved with some of the businesses that we have invested in has that same excitement of the early days of Boost — without the initial pain. Now into my fifties, I have learned so many lessons that I love to share with new businesses that are starting out. My role in Boost is now mentoring and being a director on the board, which allows me the freedom to work out what I want to do when I grow up. With most of the stress of the business now taken out of my hands, I have never felt healthier and had more energy. Riley, who was a babe in arms when I started Boost, works for Retail Zoo now and is a gun in the digital world. Oliver is travelling around South America, having the time of his life (no idea where he got the travel bug from). My oldest son, Samuel, has flown the nest and is married with two of his own children. Tahlia, who is now 11, continues to bring Jeff and I smiles and love every day. All the kids get along and we are very family orientated. I certainly did not win mother of the year, any year in fact, but I must have done something right: all my kids are amazing humans. When people call me successful, I actually think ‘I am ’ — not because of the success of the business, but because of the love I have for and from my family. Jeff is still and always will be the love of my life: I am a success, because I love and am loved.

Like my kids, Boost will always be a part of me. I am as passionate about the business as I was the day I started. Both Boost and myself are now moving into our new phase of life … and I think both of us will do okay.