Zarraffa's Appoints New Executive Board Members

Written on the 3 December 2012

The recent appointment of a new Board Chairman and Executive Director will provide strong leadership as the company expands its business operations.

Mr Terry Wimberley, who currently sits on the Zarraffa’s Coffee Board as the company’s Director of Leasing, has been appointed the new Chairman of the Board.

While Mr James Barritt, who joined the company this year in the newly created In-house Legal role, has been named as the third Executive Director, in addition to CEO and company founder Kenton Campbell.

Mr Campbell said the timing was right to solidify the Board positions given the anticipated growth of the company over the next 24 months.

“Both appointments bring with them an area of expertise that will add value at an executive level,” he said.

“I have taken the time to consider what is best for the future direction of business, what is optimum for franchisee returns and the type of leadership required to take us into new territories and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome.”

Terry Wimberley has held the Leasing Director role since 2010 and has over 40 years of retail leasing and management experience both in the USA and Australia.

His career has spanned the development and opening of many ground breaking retail developments and shopping centre icons in Australia, namely Chadstone Shopping Centre in Victoria, The Canberra Centre in the ACT, the Myer Centre in Brisbane and most recently the Harbour Town concepts in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.

In response to the appointment, Mr Wimberley said that while he was keen to look at where the business is headed it was important not to lose sight of where it has come from.

“Zarraffa’s started as a family business and now, due its evolution as a franchisor, is more a family of businesses. It’s important that this is kept front of mind in all planning and underpins all future growth.”

James Barritt has helped guide the business in an advisory legal capacity for the past five years through the Gold Coast law firm, Gold IP Lawyers, before moving in-house in May this year.

Mr Barritt has a Law degree specializing in Corporate and Commercial Law and Intellectual Property law and a background in franchise related issues, working previously with a number of large franchisors and business owners.

His time at Gold IP Lawyers directly contributed to the firm being listed in the renowned Doyle’s Guide as a leading Queensland firm in intellectual property and he worked on many varied cases on behalf of business clients from SME, franchises and large multi-nationals.

Since his appointment as In-house Legal advisor to Zarraffa’s, Mr Barritt has steered the company’s purchase of Perth-based coffee chain, One For The Road; the largest acquisition for the company to date.

Mr Barritt said the opportunity to work alongside someone he has considered a business mentor is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

“Kenton has set a very high bar in the entrepreneurial stakes and is an example that I am looking to continue. Working alongside such experience, in Terry and Kenton, at a Board level will no doubt produce great things as we draw on our working knowledge of the operation and apply this to the larger strategic direction.”

Zarraffa’s Coffee currently has 55 stores trading in Queensland and northern New South Wales and is on the cusp of re-branding the five aforementioned drive thru stores in Western Australia.

Mr Campbell said it has been his plan throughout 2012 to recruit depth within the senior executive management team, culminating in a strong Board leadership to take the franchise coffee chain into its next phase.

“We are opening more stores than ever before in brand new territories. Our next frontier is Western Australia and we are excited by the similarities in climate and culture and the strong love of convenience coffee.”

“We also have our eye on New South Wales expansion and on creating more variations of our drive thru store model to make our franchises available to more sites and potential franchisees.”

“Both Terry and James will be valuable assets in steering our future direction and guiding our company to new heights.”