The story of Jimmy’s Iced Coffee is a 10 year journey of massive wins, starting on the South Coast and earning its place as a household name. A great degree of the success of this family owned business might be explained by an almost-telepathic understanding between the brother and sister pairing of Suzie and Jim Cregan (Yes, Jim as in Jimmy’s).
From the inception of the idea from Jim’s experience in Australia, right through to the established brand we know today with high calibre ambassadors like Dame Judi Dench, the story is one of nurturing a culture with no hierarchy, and supporting each other through thick and thin. Discover the animated duo’s incredible story on the next episode of It Runs In The Family.
This episode covers:
- The opportunities unlocked by having a “yes” attitude to life
- Keeping the business thriving through the loss of their father
- Not having a hierarchy in the business and chipping in everywhere
- The story behind Jim and Suze’s massive Selfridges win
- Balancing business and family life, and covering for each other
- Having a ‘Take 24’ approach to big decisions
- Learning when to say no and look after yourself first
Episode Highlights
“I had to face the fact that I’m gonna come home and iced coffee doesn’t exist in the UK. It turned out that it does exist in the UK, but it’s all just rubbish. And I thought ‘This is like my moment to actually do something now’.” – Jim Cregan
“It was always ‘Look ahead, look up’. We just didn’t even have time to look back and look over our shoulder and think, is this going to work? I think had we done that we would have taken our eye off what was in front of us.” – Suzie Cregan
“One of the most beneficial things of us being together on this is that, because we kind of share the role, we’re able to just tap out and be like, ‘I’m out for a month, because I’m just burnt out’ and the other person just slots straight in.” – Jim Cregan
“It was Dame Judi Dench’s birthday and we basically got to go to her house and deliver her a fridge and, instead of a Jimmy’s Iced Coffee cake, we made her a Judi’s Mocha Iced Coffee cake, and it was incredible!” – Jim Cregan
“I think a family member is the perfect person to work with because of all the things you just don’t get otherwise; that depth of all of those important qualities like the understanding, the intuition, the mind reading, the look in your eye – you just don’t get that with anyone else.” – Suzie Cregan
“We’re very lucky, we have a great story, and we have a real thing. But I know for me, I don’t have the energy and I don’t have the brainpower anymore. Because I think when you layer up 10 years, it’s not 9-5 for 10 years, it’s seven days a week.” – Suzie Cregan
“I was so frenetic when we got Tesco it was like learning to drive a Boeing plane at the age of 3. It was like there were a million buttons to press, it was literally like Project Tesco, so we didn’t have time to think about it.” – Suzie Cregan
“We have this thing called Take 24, which is just to sleep on it and we’ll come back with the answer tomorrow. Because if it’s going to be worth it, you then have to sleep on it because it’s such a big decision. And then if you come out of it saying no, you can go ‘Oh, yes! I’m so glad we said no’.” – Jim Cregan
“I think overall that there’s a measure now for life, and it’s not a case of success and wealth and money. It’s actually about genuinely having a decent work life balance.” – Jim Cregan