Bakers: Lesley and Roger Gillespie Joint CEOs of Baker's Delight
The Baker’s Delight
story
The Gillespies met when Lesley took a part-time job at a bakery in Melbourne
while finishing her science degree (Lesley has a BSc (Hons), and a Diploma
of Education from
Monash University). (Roger is a fourth generation Baker).
By 1980 they were married with a young baby, and keen to create a livelihood
for the family. They understood the bakery business well and decided to go
out on their own, with a friend Gary Stephenson also joining as a partner in
the early years.
“We set up our first bakery in Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn on a shoestring
budget and the belief that you can do anything in your twenties,” Gillespie
says.
“My main aim when we first started was that we would have enough money to
choose which schools to send our children to.”
Needless to say, that first bakery was successful. The Gillespies bought out
Stephenson in 1982 when he decided to return to full-time study and got bank
funding to expand.
By 1988 the chain was now 15 bakeries, but a problem had emerged.
“With each bakery we opened, the sales weren’t as good and the profits
weren’t as good, so we could see that we couldn’t go along like this and
there had to be a better way of linking the bakery manager’s responsibility,
accountability and performance to the profits,” Gillespie says.
“In the 1980s there was a noticeable influx of franchises into Australia –
McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut came and were opening
multiple sites – so we thought that maybe franchising might be the way to do
it. After considerable investigation we flicked over into franchising and
we’ve never looked back.”
The company now has 700 bakeries in Australia, New Zealand and Canada (where
it is under the COBS Bread brand),
all under the franchise model. Gillespie says Baker’s Delight will open its
first US store in Connecticut in June this year, with a franchisee
confirmed. (Source:
BRW)
|
Aaron Gillespie is 35 (2015), lives in Canada and manages the operation there, called Cobs Bread. Elise Christie, 33, (2015) and her husband David, are both general managers of operations in Australia. |
With over 700 bakeries
worldwide and global turnover for Bakers Delight/COBS Bread of $575M in
2012/13, the company earns the title of ‘Australia’s Most Successful Bakery
Franchise.'
Over the past 35 years, this Australian success story has built a strong
brand with a distinctive image and has fostered a loyal customer base in
local communities around Australia.
Bakers Delight holds a healthy 12.7 per cent of the Australian bread market
(Roy Morgan Single Source data September 2013) – a stable market based on
Australia's love for freshly baked bread, and growing demand for
nutritionally sound produce.
New Zealand has over 25 bakeries on both the North and South Islands.
In Canada, Bakers Delight trades as 'COBS Bread'. Since 2003, COBS Bread has
grown close to 80 bakeries across three Canadian Provinces. The ultimate
goal is to expand this number to hundreds of bakeries. Find out more at
www.cobsbread.com
Within Bakers Delight, company owned bakeries represent close to 10 percent
of the network. They are an important asset as they provide not only a
source of profit, but an excellent training environment.
Behind every delighted customer there lies a Bakers Delight bakery, a bakery
operator, 130 specialist support staff, approximately 15,000 bakery
employees serving around 2 million customers each and every week.
Bakers Delight Holdings is a member of the Franchise Council of Australia
(FCA) and Franchise Association of New Zealand (FANZ).
(Source:
Baker's
Delight)
|
Did You Know? Since 1999, Bakers Delight has raised more than $7.7 million for Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA), directly supporting thousands of Australian women and their families through their breast cancer journey.  2013 was a record breaking year with $1.2 million raised during the Pink Bun Campaign. During the campaign, 100% of every Pink Bun sold goes to BCNA. (Source: Baker's Delight) Gillespies believes corporate sponsorship as a key part of the business, and they link their marketing efforts with philanthropy. In 2004, the group gave an estimated $25 million worth of bread to charity. Roger Gillespie says: "Our franchisees pay about 2% of their revenue to the company for group marketing costs. This goes towards television advertising and other costs of that order. On top of that we try to encourage individual franchises to make extra philanthropic efforts on their own.  It might be something like getting involved with the Breast Cancer Network fundraising or it might be a simple effort like sponsoring the "best and fairest" with the local footy team. I believe it all adds up to make a better company." (Source: Ovations) |
YouTube:
Bakers Delight Bakery Careers
https://youtu.be/t6Z2_SPXo0g
YouTube:
Bakers Delight Twisted Delights
https://youtu.be/QbWE0_dI31c
YouTube:
Bakers Delight Highton | Zoe's Fight
https://youtu.be/g6-i-ADkvVQ
| Victorian entrepreneurs honoured for
achievements Category: Champions of Entrepreneurship Lesley Gillespie OAM and Roger Gillespie OAM – Bakers Delight The Champion of Entrepreneurship award is a lifetime achievement award that recognises individuals who: have a long-term record of outstanding entrepreneurial achievement; have driven the growth of an Australian company, or companies, over a sustained period of time; and have made a significant contribution to their community. Lesley Gillespie is Co-Founder, Executive Director and Joint CEO of Bakers Delight as well as a Director and co-owner of the grocery outlet chain NQR. Her achievements include being a finalist in the 2004 Prime Minister’s Award for Community Partnerships, receiving the 2002 Boroondara Citizen of the Year (shared with her husband Roger), an OAM in 2006 and a Fellowship from Monash University in 2013 where she gained an Honours Degree in Science and a Diploma of Education. Apart from the ongoing and active partnership of Bakers Delight and BCNA, Lesley is also the patron of the Margaret Pratt Foundation which supports research into transplanted organ rejection. Roger Gillespie is Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Bakers Delight, the largest national chain of bakeries in Australia with over 700 bakeries operating throughout Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Roger has been inducted into the Hall of Fame for both the Swinburne University of Technology’s Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship (AGSE) and the Franchising Council of Australia. Roger has been named ‘Citizen of the Year’ for the City of Boroondara (shared with his wife Lesley) and was granted an Order of Australia for his tireless work within the community. He is a Board member of the Cranlana Programme, a Director of Epic Health, Director of NQR, President of the Australian Retailers’ Association and a Board member of the Bionics Institute. |
Links:
Creating
a new bun or scroll...
Primary
Middle
Secondary
Australian
Curriculum General Capability: Numeracy
Australian
Curriculum General Capability:
Critical and creative thinking
Australian
Curriculum General Capability:
Personal and social capability
Background to Activity:
In 1994, the Cheesymite Scroll was created by a hungry baker as a way to
combine two great flavours. It was originally a morning or afternoon snack,
but quickly became adopted by Australians as an iconic snack for any time.
Since 1994, we’ve sold almost 72 million Cheesymite Scrolls!
Cheesymite Scrolls from Baker's
Delight
1. Go to Baker's Delight and find the cost for the Cheesymite Scrolls - for the original, the whole grain and the mini version.
2. Create a Cheesymite Scroll using the following recipe:
3. Work out the cost of creating an individual scroll.
4. How does this cheesymite scroll compare to the Baker's Delight scroll in
- Taste
- Cost
- Appearance?
5.
Your new creation
You are to experiment to create
a new scroll or bun...What two or three favours would you put together?
Elvis Presley was reported to have like the Fool's Gold Loaf - a sandwich of
peanut butter, jam and bacon!
What would you like?
6. Work out the recipe and cook it.
Evaluate: ask other students to blind taste your scroll along with others from the class. How was it rated? What could be done to improve your scroll?
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