Jack Cowin is the founder and chairman of Competitive Foods Australia, the company that operates Hungry Jack’s.
Mark Evans | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
82-year-old self-made billionaire Jack Cowin has a number of simple truths to share with us about life and business.
“I don’t come from (money) … I’m self-made, so to speak. I use that terminology and I’m proud of it,” Cowin said CNBC Do it.
He made a fortune selling fast food. In 1969 he was bought his first KFC store in Australia, which eventually grew into a 55-store franchise. He then sold it in 2013 for over $71 million, according to a company representative.
Cowin is also the founder and chairman of Competitive Foods Australia, the company that operates Burger King in Australia as “Hungry Jack’s” – a Chain today more than 400 restaurants. He is also the largest shareholder of Domino’s Pizza in Australia and supports a plant-based meat substitute company called v2food.
His business is worth more than $3 billion and brings in more than $300 million a year, Cowin said CNBC Do it.
Don’t be a dentist…if you don’t drill teeth, you don’t make money.
Jack Cowin
Founder and Chairman of Competitive Foods Australia
Before starting his fast food empire, Cowin played college football and even had a “brief flirtation” with professional sports. “Business is a team sport,” he said.
“Don’t be a dentist…if you don’t drill teeth, you don’t make money,” Cowin told CNBC Make It. “If you want to do something that’s bigger and has more scope, you have to become a team player and…around a team player To become one, you have to interact with people,” he said.
“Know the fact that you can’t do it alone,” Cowin said.
Business is not just about meeting your own needs, but also about meeting the needs of others, be they employees, customers, investors or business partners. The key to his success is that he is a “people person” and has an innate curiosity and desire to learn, he said.
The first Hungry Jack’s location opened in Innaloo, Perth in 1971.
Ullstein picture | Ullstein picture | Getty Images
When Cowin was asked to give advice to young people who feel lost in life, he said, “The short answer is, if you are lost, take action and do something.”
“I see people getting fired or something going wrong in their lives. They sit on the sidelines and lose confidence… you have to be in the game to be successful,” he said.
After some time of reflection, it’s important not to get stuck in a vicious cycle of gloom: “You have to get back into the mainstream of life by doing things and interacting with people,” he said. “Try it, don’t stand around and think about it.”
Today, Cowin says he has created about 150,000 jobs worldwide between his Domino’s Pizza business – which consists of 4,000 stores in 12 countries – and his Hungry Jack’s business.
At 82, he says he has no plans to get out of the business.
“If there was a summary of my life, I looked at it as an adventure rather than working through it day by day,” he said. “It was an adventure, doing new things, doing new business, new this, new that, and it was fun.”
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