Grow Cafe Co. has established a line of popular cafes that run throughout regional Australia and is revolutionising how we think about sustainable and socially responsible dining.
With a focus on offering delicious locally sourced food, supporting small-scale farmers and celebrating the traditional community values of Aboriginal Australia, Grow Cafe Co. has created a recipe for success.
We sit down with Zachariah Buckley, Owner of Grow Cafe Co., to discuss why he’s built a different hospitality business model, how the cafes thrive in regional areas and the importance of using indigenous ingredients.
The essence of Grow
Grow Cafe Co. is more than just a name; it aims to embody exactly what the business stands for.
“The concept is in its name, so Grow stands for Green. Regional. Organic. Whole foods,” explains Zachariah.
With this in mind, Zachariah and the team have worked to ensure that these words are represented within each cafe and intertwined into the fabric of the business.
Green
First up, we have green.
“We literally have fresh, real plants on the tables like basil, chocolate mint, parsley, lemon balm.”
“We actually grow the plants inside, but then we go a step further. We also have a farm that grows bush tuckers. At the moment, we’ve got Lemon Myrtle growing because I’m Aboriginal. We grow these bush tucker teas.”
While there’s increasing demand for indigenous ingredients and produce and a healthy profit margin in local teas, that’s not the driving force behind why Zachariah wants to champion indigenous dining.
“The reason we’re doing this is because it all links back to my heritage, and it gives us this really good story to tell behind something that’s exciting.”
Regional
Next in Grow’s concept is regional.
The motivation behind regional was to ensure the cafes support local farmers and producers and minimise the distance any ingredients need to travel.
“We’re not trying to buy something from another state. If we can get it 30 minutes down the road, and very much that is the case, it just means you have to order ahead, maybe an extra couple days.”
While buying local might not always be the most convenient option, it’s the right one for Grow Cafe Co. and supports its ethos.
“We sometimes need to go and search those things out, maybe buy in bulk or something. We show that initiative, and we try and tell stories around using a local honey brand or whatnot.”
Organic
Next up, we have organic.
Zachariah’s philosophy behind organic is that nothing is perfect, and as long as you strive to achieve something the majority of the time, then that’s a realistic, achievable option.
“With Organic, that’s pretty simple. We try to use organic where we can… So we’re like an 80/20 rule on these things. 80% we’re trying to do it, 20% we’re forgiven for it.”
Whole foods
Finally, we’ve got whole foods.
“We’re just trying to use whole foods. So our relish is a chilli jam that we use with all whole foods. Even just down to the salts and peppers on the table. We’re using proper cracked pepper, just things like that.”
Growing a different kind of cafe
Unlike many cafes in Australia, Grow is a franchise model which allows Zacharia to set up a cafe and then sell it under management with the Grow Cafe Co. concept and branding.
The cafes are also predominantly in regional areas, where Zacharia believes there’s a huge market for businesses like his.
“We’ve found that there’s a big appetite for opening shops and selling them under management in regional areas.”
“We’ve been getting these healthy cash injections to go out in the marketplace, go and buy shops, open them, sell them, and run them under management. So the regional just seems to work.”
Regional but close
While operating a string of regional cafes might seem challenging due to the perceived distance away from metropolitan areas, that’s not always the case, as many of Grow’s regional cafes are much closer than you think.
“Take Queensland, for example; the Sunshine Coast is regional. You take Sydney, for example. You go out to Penrith; it’s regional. So that’s why we’re going for a regional cafe. It’s good money.”
Creating a profitable business model
Despite Grow’s franchise business seeing such success, with multiple venues across Australia, very few other cafes are adopting a similar model. Zachariah believes this is down to owners overlooking potential growth opportunities.
“A lot of people who can operate a cafe don’t have a salesman or an entrepreneurial mindset, so to speak. And so they’re missing the opportunity that it’s extremely profitable.”
“You could grow a massive brand through this kind of model. But… this model can’t really be done small. It can only really be done big – at least over 10-15 cafes would be the minimum where it would really start to be quite profitable.”
Thinking outside the box
To ensure Grow Cafe Co. could continue to thrive and grow in other locations while maintaining consistency, the business purchased production kitchens in Sydney and Brisbane.
“In order to kind of go past three cafes, we found it very difficult… So, we’ve gone, okay, let’s buy this production kitchen, and then it brings the food to those cafes… keeping it very simple but consistent.”
This way, it’s much easier for Grow to scale out its model while also remaining profitable.
“The production kitchen has worked out very handy in delivering food to the cafes. There’s good margin in it… The franchisee pays for your produce. So you are making money on that sale. And then, when they sell it, obviously, they’re making money. And then you’ve got your royalties on top.”
The production kitchens also allow the business to open up other lucrative revenue streams through contracting.
“If you have a production kitchen, you can get a contract for a hundred kilos of pasta every week. Let’s say you’ve just made that sale, but it’s recurring in your business for maybe the next two years, three years, or ten years.”
“So that sale you made today brings revenue to your business for a long time.”
Managing growth
One of the biggest challenges for Grow Cafe Co. has been growing too quickly – which might seem like a nice challenge to face, but it’s been difficult for Zachariah.
“We’ve opened up a lot of cafes, and each cafe right now has needed my attention to be able to either get better or to pull them out of the red and get them back into the green.”
“It’s quite frustrating when you’ve grown too quickly, and you’ve got to backtrack.”
As with opening any new cafe, there will be teething problems. But when several cafes open in a short space of time, it can be challenging to dedicate enough time to each and help unpick any issues they’re facing.
“What I’ve found is, you’ve just got to come back into the cafe, literally get inside of it again. And that’s very difficult when you’re trying to be strategic and think about its higher level of growth.”
“It’s just frustrating because you really don’t mind that there’s a problem. You just want to solve it.”
Looking to the future
When looking to the future, Zachariah has grand plans for Grow Cafe Co., but he’s determined to always stay true to the original ethos that the cafes have been built around.
“We’ll still maintain all of these philosophies from Grow. We’ll still be very green, making sure our waste management is good. We’ll still be very regional. Our kitchen will still be very organic.”
As well as championing the ethos of Grow far into the future, another thing that Zachariah is excited about is their farm and launching a new indigenous tea brand.
“The thing that just gets me the most excited is our business partner in a farm that we have on the Sunshine Coast. We are producing honey, we’ve got over 20 hives… we’ve got ginger grown on that same property, and then we’re growing a lemon myrtle tea farm.”
And finally, for Zachariah, one of the most exciting things about the farm is tying everything back to his Aboriginal heritage.
“It’s exciting for me… having something that literally brings it back full circle where you are actually in the soil, it all just feels really good… For me, that’s been the most exciting part around this whole hospitality game, is going back into the soil.”
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