It is often said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. On Tuesday, Carlton staff were given a dose of inspiration with their morning coffee, thanks to Simon Crowe – Founder and CEO of Grill’d.

Crowe was invited to the Club to speak with staff about innovation. Drawing on his own life and business experience, Crowe detailed how he turned his vision for a premium burger restaurant, into the reality that is his unique and growing Grill'd chain.

The vision is not one initially shared by his family, Crowe recalling his mother's hesitant approval when he told her he wanted to leave his stable job at Fosters to start a burger joint. Fast forward nine years since the inception of Grill'd, and it's easy to see how the business is one that both Crowe and his family can indeed be proud of. 

The key to success, Crowe says, is continually edging to the right. The "right" being creativity, uniqueness in branding and an emotional investment, as opposed to the "left", which represents the nuts and bolts, rationale and the bottom line. As Crowe describes his business; "in a rational space we're a healthy burger expert, but in an emotional space we're a rebel with a cause." 

The point of difference for Grill’d is based on a BSAB model, or Burgers, Service, Ambiance, Brand, with the company’s core philosophy being that its people are its greatest assets.

“Our business will only be successful if it’s led by our heart and not our head,” Crowe said. “The individual parts are greater than the whole.

“If you chop away those individual parts because you’re trying to get cost savings all the way through, then you end up with a business that is actually quite different from the one that you started.”

In terms of innovation, Crowe is a firm believer that his business needs to continue evolving – with his staff continuing to do the things they already do, but better and with emotion.

He plans to continue building his brand and culture from the top down, because as he says: “Values, brand and culture are all interlinked. If you want to create a journey that brings people together, it’s the moulding of those three things gives purpose to what you do.”