David Baker And Patrick Baker
Family-Owned Businesses
Sharing top billing in this recipe, David and Patrick Baker - who co-founded the beverage company Sir Fruit - delve into the joys of being brothers in business.
Tuck InArmed with a CA qualification (David) and a BA in social sciences (Patrick) respectively, David and Patrick Baker’s first formal foray into business was with their older brother James in Cambridge Meats, a chain of butcheries.
In 1997, the Baker brothers started a fast-food business called Amos Cole in Kloof, Durban. The homestyle roast chicken and freshly cooked vegetables delighted customers but the business model proved unsustainable, teaching the entrepreneurs many valuable lessons.
Patrick was offered an opportunity to manage a fruit juice business in Durban called the House of Orange, owned and operated by Spiro and Chrissie Vlismas. Four years later Patrick bought equity in House of Orange and in due course James and David followed suit. They opened factories in Johannesburg and Cape Town, and in 2010 merged the business with Sir Juice to become the first national fresh-juice supplier to the hospitality industry in South Africa.
In 2018, the business was rebranded as Sir Fruit.
10 Tasty Bites
Below is a preview of what you can expect to learn in this recipe.
1 - Who Was Your First Entrepreneurial Influence?
2 - What Are Your First Entrepreneurial Stories?
3 - How Did You Learn About Entrepreneurship?
4 - What Is It Like To Work As Brothers In A Business?
5 - How Does The Brotherly Banter Influence Communication In The Business?
6 - What Are The Advantages Of A Family Business?
7 - How Does Sir Fruit Define Its Brand?
8 - How Did You Deal With The Risk To Scale The Business?
9 - How Did You Build Sales At Sir Fruit?
10 - What Advice Do You Give Entrepreneurs?
About This Recipe
The family business that David and Patrick Baker built, has its roots in a childhood spent around entrepreneurs and business owners. The brothers cut their business teeth in ventures ranging from selling milk, clothes and shoes, to working in butcheries and starting a fast food business with a flawed business model.
These days, Sir Fruit is in more than 5 000 on-premise outlets and is breaking into the retail market. Despite their success, the brothers remain humble, refuse to give up Sir Fruit’s ethos of care, and still get a kick out of staff member’s loyalty and camaraderie.
Dive into this recipe for insights into building a brand, succeeding at selling and the importance of a good laugh.
What You'll Learn
The co-founders of Sir Fruit share the three cornerstones on which the business’ brand has been built, as well as insights into how they managed the company’s lightning-fast growth and consequent demand for capital.
Their tips on staff management, with care and humour as golden threads, are found throughout the recipe, as are the tributes they pay to the people who have shaped them as entrepreneurs.
David and Patrick also reveal the significance of the bowler hat that is the Sir Fruit logo and explain why it is necessary to have good people around you. You will also learn what it means to borrow from your customers.
Learn
Learn from someone who speaks from a position of real authority, perspective and experience.
Do
Implement practical tips and techniques learned in the trenches - doing, rather than talking.
Share
Join a cohort of like-minded entrepreneurs in our growing community and share your learnings as you go.
Get Learning
This entrepreneurial micro-course will take you only a few minutes per day (or you can binge if you want to). Feel free to skip around and please let us know what you think.
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