Revealed: The faces behind some of Sunshine Coast’s most loved franchises

Go behind the scenes of the Sunshine Coast’s franchisees and see how they managed to build their empires. Here are our homegrown success stories:

Starting a business can take a lot of guts but these Sunshine Coast franchise owners have proven hard work and commitment to their communities pay off.

From real estate tycoons and realising a dream of owning a store to becoming the chief executive of a national brand, meet the people behind some of the Coast’s biggest franchises:

The Burness family – Dominos

What started as job to pay the bills while studying turned into a lifelong career for David Burness and opportunities for his family.

Mr Burness and wife Melissa sold their Dominos franchises in 2021 after he was promoted to the chief executive for Australia and New Zealand.

In his new role the Maroochydore dad of three is sharing his recipe for business success with franchisees.

His family still holds a significant slice of the franchising business on the Sunshine Coast with daughter Maddie, 22, taking on the Maroochydore, Coolum Beach and Pacific Paradise stores.

Mr Burness said the secret to being a successful franchisee was in the way customers and staff were treated.

Across the seven franchises Mr Burness employed about 50 people.

Sales at Mr Burness’ stores were on average 70 per cent higher than other Dominos.

“That’s all about being obsessed with the customer,” he said.

“You need to find out what is it that prevents a customer from ordering from you and fix it, whether it be convenience, price or service level.”

Sponsorships were also important and Mr Burness said the company gave away “tens of thousands” of pizzas to local organisations.

Brett Graham – Ray White Buderim

Ray White franchise owner Brett Graham has owned 10 businesses during his career.

For more than three decades Brett Graham has lived and breathed property on the Sunshine Coast.

The property expert has owned 10 Ray White businesses throughout his career but now only has one franchise to his name, his flagship Buderim office with 28 staff.

Mr Graham’s career highlight has been training people to become leaders.

“With those businesses my goal was to bring in really good younger people, train them up to be good leaders and then have a succession plan where they were brought in as equity partners and eventually became franchisees,” he said.

“The highlight for me is providing an opportunity whether they be sales managers or admin staff to have a good, safe and secure place of work.

“We have an environment where some people stay for three to five years and others have been with us for up to 25 plus years.”

Mr Graham, who has been recognised as an elite business leader in Ray White, said it was important to be level-headed and ready for the next market.

After the Sunshine Coast’s property market boomed amid the Covid-19 pandemic Mr Graham said he expected it to remain strong in 2022.

As for advice for those interested in becoming a franchisee, Mr Graham said: “pick a good franchise that you believe in and do a lot of research”.

Scott McClellan and Jacinta Shackell – Hello Harry

Hello Harry franchise owners, husband and wife team Scott McClellan and Jacinta Shackell. Picture: Patrick Woods.

Former police officer Scott McClellan always loved the taste of Hello Harry burgers on Ocean St, Maroochydore, during his years in the force so when he was looking for a career change, joining the chain made sense.

Mr McClellan and his wife Jacinta Shackell opened their Birtinya store in February 2019 before taking over the original Ocean St franchise in November 2020.

“Ocean St was the original Hello Harry and then it moved locations two down the road, before it was closed by the brand over Covid,” Mr McClellan said.

“It’s the home of Hello Harry and we needed to keep it open, that’s what brought me into brand … I was quite the regular customer in the Ocean St store.”

Mr McClellan said the two stores employed between 30 to 35 staff and he had plans to one day expand.

“I remember when it all first started the hype around Hello Harry, I thought at the time that (the brand is) what the coast needs – a specialised burger place,” he said.

“I’d love to do another one on the coast, it’s just about where to go.”

Mr McClellan said one of his proudest achievements was working with other local businesses to showcase what the region has to offer.

“We’ve got so many craft breweries on the Coast,” he said.

“I‘ve been able to partner with some of these and bring some of these craft beers onto my taps.

“That’s a bit of a passion of mine.”

Mr McClellan said he was looking forward to continuing to work with other businesses and learn from others.

“I just love being involved, I love meeting other business people,” he said.

“My business experience is very limited, I’ve learned a lot in the last three years from others.”

Shane Hepburn – Good Bean

Good Bean owner and founder Shane Hepburn started the speciality coffee business as a way to give customers more choice for their caffeine fix. Picture: Patrick Woods

Sunshine Coast’s own Good Bean coffee shop founder Shane Hepburn said he was incredibly proud of how far his business had come since he opened his first store in 2009.

With almost 20 stores today, each employing an average of 10 staff, Mr Hepburn said there was s a lot more to his business than “just selling coffee”.

“What I love most about it is that it is constantly changing and evolving,” he said.

Mr Hepburn said his focus now was on giving back to the community.

“We still sell coffee but … we were cleaning the streets in Brisbane (after the floods because) it affected us as well as. We have a few stores in Brisbane,” he said.

“The local things where we can see the impact we make is what we like to do.”

Mr Hepburn said he wanted to build stronger relationships with other businesses to continue to grow the franchise.

“We’re doing a lot more partnerships, we’ve got two stores down at Youi (in Sippy Downs) just for them,” he said.

“We’ve got a store opening at Sydney University.

“We’re forming relationships with businesses we’re working with and the people who believe in our ethos, we partner with them and work together.”

Mr Hepburn said a team in May would head to Panama to reconnect with coffee farmers who they have not been able to see in more than two years because of the pandemic.

“We source (the coffee beans) directly from the farm, where some of the big companies don’t actually know the farmer but we do,” Mr Hepburn said.

“We actually know our farmers individually where we buy from, we give back feedback on what flavours our Australia consumers want.”

Elle Kendell – KX Pilates

Bringing KX Pilates to Mooloolaba fulfilled a lifestyle and career dream for Elle Kendell.

The pilates instructor turned business owner moved from South Australia to the Sunshine Coast in 2021 to open the business, which has since gained a loyal following.

Ms Kendell said the Brisbane Rd studio has about 500 members and six staff members.

She said she wanted to become a franchisee after attending a KX studio as a client.

“I loved the environment they created and the support they had not only for the staff but also the clients,” she said.

Ms Kendell said she wanted to help her clients grow stronger and more confident.

Through offering a more fast-paced reformer pilates workout Ms Kendell said the studio attracted clients from across the Coast keen to “feel that KX burn”.

She said it would be “amazing” to expand the business at other locations if the demand was there.

“I want to grow the business as big as the Coast would want it to be,” Ms Kendell said.

“What business owner doesn’t want to expand?

“For me it’s about providing opportunities for more instructors to come on board, knowledge is power so the more people involved in KX the better it will become.”

She said the benefit of a franchise was the support network of other studio owners who could provide advice and feedback.

“My advice would be whatever you enter into make sure it fits into your values and morals, and if it lines up that’s a fantastic opportunity,” Ms Kendell said.

Terry and Jeanette Bambury – Zarraffas

Terry and Jeanette Bambury outside their Zarraffas store in Caloundra. Picture: Contributed

Franchising has delivered almost two decades of career growth and success for Terry and Jeanette Bambury who have owned six Zarraffas.

The pair won franchisees of the year twice and now have four stores: Caloundra, Currimundi, Maroochydore and the Morayfield kiosk.

With 110 staff across the stores, and some as young as 14, Mr Bambury said giving young people job opportunities was one of many highlights.

Mr Bambury said the pair bought their first Zarraffas in 2005 after seeing an advertisement in the Sunshine Coast Daily.

“We’ve grown with them,” he said.

“When we started we were store number 14 and now there’s 80.”

He said the opening of the drive thru in Maroochydore was a key change with now most Zarraffas offering the convenient service.

He said that helped the business throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now Mr Bambury, 61, said he was looking forward to retirement in coming years.

Mr Bambury said his experience as a franchisee had been rewarding.

“It can be really awesome,” he said.

“Your marketing is done for you, you don’t have to be the complete entrepreneur.

“Look for the right franchise that suits you.

“Hospitality suits me because that’s what I’ve always done.”