Peter Irvine – Gloria Jean’s Executive

Peter Irvine grew up doing what he needed to do to make ends meet.

Peter’s father had several odd jobs performing blue-collar work while his mother stayed at home. At 14 years old, Peter started working at an advertising agency because his family expected him to contribute to the household income, and Peter viewed his job as a something he had to do to pay the bills.

But as Peter got older, his understanding of his faith grew, which he says challenged him to do his work better. In this episode, Peter shares how he began to apply Biblical principles to his role as National Media Director, how his church Hillsong encouraged him to have more vision in the workplace, and how his small group leader Nabi Saleh told him about the opportunity at Gloria Jean’s.

Peter shares how the original Gloria Jean’s concept, a coffee chain that started in the US in 1979, needed to be tailored for the Australian market. It was a difficult start opening up the first stores, but once Peter and his partner Nabi got it right, the coffee chain grew to 300 stores in the first 10 years. And in 2015, they sold the business to a publicly listed company Retail Food Group for approx. 150 million US dollars.

Peter is now an author, keynote speaker, author and consultant. He provides practical advice and resources on his website.

 

 

Special thanks for this episode: Peter and Sue Irvine, Brian Andrews, Farah Thalji, Michelle Haines and Ruth Ng

 

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Faith Collides podcast is hosted by Grace Huang from Lux Mundi.  More information: www.lxmundi.com