Australia’s youngest McDonald’s manager Justin Fischer now oversees a $35m soft serve ice cream empire

What started with frustration over faulty McDonald’s equipment has become a global business for this one-time MAFS contestant, who’s built an empire reaching 100 countries. Read how he did it

Pictured in Rose Bay is Justin Fischer, CEO of Brullen. This former McDonalds worker is now running an ice cream soft serve business worth millions. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Once Australia’s youngest McDonald’s manager at just 16, Justin Fischer has since built Brüllen, a global soft-serve machine business supplying clients including Ikea, Hilton and Disney World, with revenues exceeding $35m.

But his journey to success began with a broken soft serve machine at his McDonald’s, a problem all too familiar with many workers and customers and one that ultimately launched a multimillion-dollar business.

“I had a goal in mind,” Mr Fischer said of his teenage years. “I wanted to become a McDonald’s franchisee. I just worked my butt off.”

Born in Papua New Guinea before relocating to Brisbane, the entrepreneur cut his teeth on the fast-food front lines, eventually taking over maintenance of soft serve machines across dozens of McDonald’s stores.

Frustrated with the repeated failures of the Taylor brand units in his restaurants, Mr Fischer began offering his own repair services.

“I said, ‘How about I do all the maintenance on them, and nobody else touches them?’ Lo and behold, they stopped breaking down.”

Word quickly spread. By his early 20s, Fischer was servicing endless McDonald’s stores in Queensland also Hungry Jack’s. That network — and his mechanical insight — gave him the springboard to do something more profound: design his own machines.

“I got sick of working on someone else’s brand,” he said. After being dismissed by Italian giant Carpigiani in a pitch meeting — “They laughed at me,” he said — Mr Fischer flew to China, sourcing parts from Germany, France and Italy to build his own.

Brüllen’s machines, now assembled in a factory outside Shenzhen, are known for their vibrant colours, user-friendly design and reliability. “If someone tells you their equipment never breaks down, they’re liars,” he said. “But if customers look after it, our machines can go years without an issue.”

Those machines now appear everywhere — from Ikea and Hilton hotels to Acai bowl chains such as Oakberry and Disney resorts. In fact, a Brüllen machine shipped out to Disney World in Orlando just this week to be used for mango sorbets at the number one theme park in the US.

The ascent of the one-time Married At First Sight star hasn’t come without serious scrutiny.

Justin Fischer appeared on Married at First Sight in 2018. Source: Nine Network.

Between 2019 and 2022, he was banned from managing companies by the corporate watchdog ASIC, following the collapse of two businesses he had directed. “I accepted the referee’s decision back in April 2022 which meant I couldn’t manage companies for three years,” Mr Fischer said.

“There were circumstances only at the time and I wish I could have had more control over the way they unfolded. Now that I have been reinstated, I have lessons learnt which I have demonstrated clearly in the way I go about my business today. My clients know me and my ethics well, so my business wasn’t otherwise impacted at the time.”

In 2021, Fischer was also charged with assault, stalking and intimidation — a matter that garnered media attention due to his appearance on Married At First Sight years earlier. The charges were dismissed in court, meaning the case was thrown out.

Asked whether the attention from those incidents and personal challenges from his marriage breakdown dented his desire and ambition, Mr Fischer insists it only made him stronger.

“The more you tell me I can’t do it, the more determined I’ll be to do it,” he said.

That resilience is reflected in Brüllen’s international expansion. What began as a side hustle servicing faulty McDonald’s equipment is now a diversified product offering spanning soft serve, frozen yoghurt and Brazilian açaí.

“We were the first ones 10 years ago to start running açai through soft serve machines,” Mr Fischer said. “Now we’re working with some of the biggest brands in the States and Middle East.”

Brüllen machines are known for their aesthetic pop — hot pink, lime green, mustard yellow.

Mr Fischer was one of the country’s youngest ever managers of a McDonald’s at age 16. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

“We’re not f--king boring,” Mr Fischer said, quoting a mantra developed in a branding session with his leadership team. “We’re young, modern and nimble.”

That mindset has helped Brüllen carve out space among global incumbents like Taylor and Carpigiani. “They went to sleep for a while,” Mr Fischer said. “Now they’ve had to lift their game to compete with us.”

The business, headquartered in Sydney, is now in 100 countries and counting. Next up: cracking the US market. Fischer is heading to Chicago next month to pitch to McDonald’s global procurement team.

Despite the growth, Mr Fischer said the ethos remains the same: engineer a better machine, prove its worth, and let performance do the selling.

“We never come across desperate — because we’re not. We just say, ‘Here we are. Let’s put one machine on-site and see how it goes,” he said.

Brüllen’s machines are designed to be as simple and robust as possible, he said. “Competitors over-engineer everything. Customers just want to pull the handle and get good soft serve.”

A self-confessed travel addict, Fischer says he built Brüllen to match his lifestyle. “I’m overseas every month — working, building relationships, growing the brand.”

Asked what’s next, Fischer doesn’t hesitate. “I want to build a global billion-dollar empire,” he says. “That’s been the goal since I was 12.”

For now, the empire-building continues — with a side of Mango Sorbet.

Originally published as Australia’s youngest McDonald’s manager Justin Fischer now oversees a $35m soft serve ice cream empire