Kochie’s Business Builders interviews Kenton Campbell

Zarraffa’s Coffee Founder and Managing Director, Kenton Campbell, recently sat down with Channel 7 business news program Kochie’s Business Builders, to share some insights into his background as an entrepreneur.

“Zarraffa’s started in 1995”, explains Kenton, “I had come from the states the year before, consulting in the coffee industry. I came from Seattle, which people would know, where specialty coffee with Starbucks and the like had started from.”

“And I came over here and saw a wide opening in the market. I realized that paper cups and takeaway coffee basically hadn’t arrived. So on March 25th, 1995 I incorporated, and set out on this journey.”

Kenton explains how the Zarraffa’s Coffee brand quickly advanced from the initial 60sqm factory in Southport, to becoming a household name in Queensland. “I needed to figure out another way of growing and managing the business, and I looked into it and found franchising… And that innovation paid off”, he says.

In 2012, Kenton visited Kenya, and a chance encounter established a long-term partnership with local coffee producers. “So we got a car organised,” he explains, “we went to this co-op, and for the last 7 years we’ve bought them out completely.”

Sharing his conservation philosophy, Kenton says “Zarraffa’s has been about meaningful conservation. Not buying fair trade – we are fair trade. We’re doing something behind the scenes, we’re not doing it for the pat on the back, or writing cheques out. Anybody can write a cheque. Go and see what you’re putting it into”.

Zarraffa’s Coffee now has over 80 stores across Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales, and work has begun on the new national headquarters, stretching across 5.4 hectares on the Albert River in Eagleby, Queensland.

Watch the full ‘Entrepreneur in the Spotlight’ interview below: