COLIN AND GAEL BENZIE, 74 and 66, Muffin Break CAFE CULTURE ATTRACTS FORMER RETAILER
“We thought it would be fun to have a coffee shop. We didn’t realise it was as hard as it is. It’s full on from when you start at 6, till the shop closes. There’s always something to be done.
“My wife had a b rilliant idea … l et’s buy a M uffin Break.”
Colin says the suggestion came completely out of the blue but it was perfect timing. “I was bored with selling houses,” he says.
Real estate had been Colin’s career for five years but it was never a great love. He had previously spent 25 years owning and operating an independent menswear store in Sydney before relocating to Tweed Heads.
So when his wife Gael made her suggestion, Colin was more than ready to try something new.
They bought the original Muffin
Break store in Australia at Coolangatta. Then five years later they moved on and bought a brand new site in Tweed Heads.
Looking back, Colin can laugh at the initial trials of operating a cafe.
“We thought it would be fun to have a coffee shop. We didn’t realise it was as hard as it is. It’s full on from when you start at 6, till the shop closes. There’s always something to be done.
“In our two weeks at instore training we said to ourselves, ‘What have we done?’ We thought, ‘We’ll never handle this.’ It’s daunting, the first 12 months.”
Colin knew what it was like to run a business and he’s not afraid of the hard work – he had been a solo operator for all those years in menswear. What was refreshing was to have staff to work with, and a support team to back him up if needed.
“Muffin Break have been very good. If there’s a major problem there’s someone the staff can ring. If we go away, a consultant is just a phone call away. If you’re an independent you don’t have that luxury.”
What he loves about being in a Muffin Break franchise is that he can run the store as he sees fit.
“The beauty of the business is that you can earn as much as you want to, or go for a more relaxed lifestyle. When we first bought Coolangatta I was doing 65 to 70 hours a week, Gael was working a 40 hour week.”
The profits were in accordance with the time and effort they put in to the business.
It’s a different story now Colin is only at work four days a week. But that’s fine with him.
“I’m 69 now. I’m not capable of doing what I used to do. I’ve got good staff and I can afford to take it easier. I don’t need to earn the same.”
Despite a natural slow down, Colin and Gael have proved they run an exceptional business, taking out the Muffin Break Queensland franchisee award in 2018.
He believes the key to the store’s high performance is a combination of atmosphere, treating everyone as one big happy family, and having the right product for the area.
“You can’t be all things to all people. You have to go with your strengths. Pick your market and stick with it.
“Our clientele and the centre’s clientele are 60 plus. There are a lot of retirement villages around. Of course it helps that we are similar ages,” he admits. “It’s easier for me to relate to over-60s than 25 year olds.”
Colin loves the lifestyle he has thanks to the financial benefits and the flexibility of the business.
The couple share Mondays and Tuesdays as days off together.
“The theory is we go to the beach. In reality we are gardening, and one day is bookwork and rosters. And we go off to lunch.”
He advises other seniors considering a late-life career move into franchising to be bold.
“Don’t be frightened, but don’t go into it if you think you can just sit back and do nothing. You’ll get nothing out of it.
“Age is only a number. We have some customers in the shop in their 90s who seem 70, and some 60 year olds could be 90. It’s all attitude.”