At 16, Janine Allis left school to travel the world. After working a host of jobs in different countries, she returned to her home country of Australia and started a company.
Born in Melbourne in 1960, Allis was always determined and single minded. After leaving school she worked as a media assistant for an advertising agency, before taking off overseas. Through the 1980s and 1990s Allis worked as a model, an assistant gym manager, a nanny in France, a promotions executive in Portugal, a camp counsellor in the USA, a stewardess on David Bowie’s yacht, a manager for a Singapore movie theatre chain, a publicist for United International Pictures, and a touring agent for US comedians.
It’s an impressive resume in variety and locations, but it doesn’t seem like the the background of a successful business owner. Nevertheless, Allis began the juice bar chain Boost Juice in 2000, with one store in Adelaide.
She had been inspired when, on a family holiday to the US the year before, Allis noticed how many juice bars there were in Los Angeles and how popular they were. She had already spotted a gap in the market for healthy takeaway options in Australia, and thought bringing the juice bar idea down under would fill that gap nicely.
Allis was on maternity leave when the first store opened in Adelaide. The site wasn’t the best, however. While the location was fine, it was in a heritage building with no air conditioning – not great for a juice bar aiming to be cool and refreshing in the Australian summer.
Still, Allis and her husband Jeff were able to grow the business, and in four years Boost Juice had 175 stores across Australia and New Zealand. Making the most of franchising, Allis was able to look at other opportunities further afield.
In 2005, Allis decided to leverage Boost Juice’s success to expand to other brands. Allis and her husband secured investment to start Retail Zoo, which has Allis as executive director. Retail Zoo is now the parent company to Boost Juice, Fresh Mex restaurants, and CIBO Espresso.
Boost Juice hasn’t been successful everywhere. In 2006 it ceased operations in New Zealand because the franchise-holder went into liquidation, and eventually Boost was bought out by Tank Juice.
That didn’t hamper the growth of Boost Juice much, however. The chain expanded into the UK, Kuwait, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand in 2007. In 2016 Boost Juice has over 400 stores in 12 countries.
Allis herself has become something of a personality. She has won a score of business and entrepreneurial awards, and had a stint as director of the Hawthorn Football Club from 2006 to 2009. In 2010 appeared on the TV show Undercover Boss, and she is one of the “sharks” on Shark Tank – an Australian version of Dragons Den.
Quotes on business from Janine Allis:
- “We don’t take ‘no’ for an answer and we don’t use the word ‘try’ – we just do it.”
- “Nobody ever learnt anything while they were talking. Listening may well be the most underrated quality of all.”
- “Self-discipline is the most common trait of great and successful leaders.”
- “I am learning more from what goes wrong than from what goes right.”
- “It’s accepted business practice that the majority of all sales deals are made because the customer trusts and likes the person with whom they’re dealing.”