Jack Cowin: He bought a KFC store in Australia in 1969. Today, his company is worth over $US3 billion

As a kid, Jack Cowin shovelled snow, delivered newspapers and sold Christmas cards for cash.

By the time he reached his 20s, it was burgers instead of cards. Fast forward to today: the Sydney-based 82-year-old is a billionaire, thanks to his fast food empire.

Mr Cowin is the founder and chairman of Competitive Foods Australia, the company that operates Burger King as Hungry Jack’s in Australia.

He is also the largest shareholder of Domino’s Pizza in Australia, and backs a plant-based meat substitute company called v2food.

Before founding Hungry Jack’s, Mr Cowin was responsible for bringing Kentucky Fried Chicken to Australia in 1969.

Then in 2013, he sold off his KFC franchise of 55 stores in a deal worth about $US71 million ($110.7m), according to a representative at Competitive Foods Australia.

Today, his business is worth more than $US3 billion and brings in more than $US300m a year.

An enterprising kid

Growing up in Canada, Mr Cowin realised early on that he wanted freedom in life. His father was an employee at the Ford Motor Company and was required to travel frequently for work.

“He had a phone call one day, you’re going to Brazil, or you’re going to Mexico, or things like this . . . when you work for a big corporation, the corporation decides where you’re going to be, (and) what you’re going to do,” Mr Cowin said.

“And as a kid, I wanted to have the freedom to do what I wanted to do. I think I saw that relatively early, because (I saw that) Dad’s on the treadmill of here, there and everywhere.”

He didn’t want to be at the “whims and beck and call of a corporation”. So as a child, Mr Cowin spent his time outside of school mowing lawns and delivering newspapers.

By the time college rolled around, Mr Cowin said he was going from farm to farm selling “trees, shrubs and nursing stock”. He was so successful at it that he was making $US8000 a year while his university professors were making only $US5000 a year, he said.

He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1964, and went on to get a job selling life insurance — a job, he said, he was very good at. “I had a reputation of being someone that could sell,” he said.

Striking gold Down Under

By the late 1960s, Mr Cowin had begun to settle down in Canada with his wife and his first child when he one day received a phone call from a couple of high school friends.

His friends had landed a job with the American Kentucky Fried Chicken company and were sent to Australia to do some market research about whether they should expand into the country.

“Since my father had been there (for work) and I was the only guy ... that knew where Australia was on a map ... they phoned me up and said: ‘You should be down here. You should come and see this.’ So without a moment’s notice, I’m on a plane and I fly to Australia,” Mr Cowin said.

He landed in Australia in February 1969, and spent three weeks there helping his friends conduct research — ultimately finding that there was indeed a market for fast food in Australia.

“So at the end of the three weeks, I pay $US1000 as a deposit on a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise (and) if the American company is going to open a store, then I was going to have a 10-store franchise,” he said.

His ‘biggest break’ in life

Six months later, he received a phone call saying that the American KFC company agreed to expand into Australia and Mr Cowin had the opportunity to own his first franchise location.

But he didn’t have the funds, so he started raising money. Imagine this “kid comes into your office and says he wants to borrow $US10,000, which is probably about $US100,000 today or more . . . he’s got no experience in the business, no interest on your money . . . how long before you throw him out of your office for wasting your time?”

“The biggest break I’ve had in my life was . . . I got on my bike and I got 30 Canadians to lend me $US10,000 each, so got $US300,000,” he said.

“Otherwise I’d still be shovelling snow in Canada. I hadn’t had the finances back then.”

By December 1969, Mr Cowin moved his family to Perth where he opened his first KFC franchise. “It was like drilling oil and hitting oil on your first wildcat well, because it was a booming success,” he said.

“Then, you open two more, you get into the hamburger business, you get into the pizza business, you get into JUthe food manufacturing business, and today, that business is a $US3b business and makes $US300m a year.”

CNBC