How an Ex-Footballer Created a $30 Million Café Empire
Inglewood Coffee Roasters founder Julien Moussi drew inspiration from his travels when creating his Australian hospitality venues. He can’t wait to get back out there and taste the world with the Qantas Points he’s earning while growing his food and coffee empire.
When Aussie Rules player Julien Moussi injured his ACL playing for the VFL’s Box Hill Hawks in 2009, his sports career was in tatters. His personal training business wasn’t looking much brighter but a shot of inspiration led the then 21-year-old to a new business opportunity, working with Melbourne’s other great passion: coffee.
“A few weekends after I had my knee reconstruction, I asked the club’s general manager if I could make the coffees at games,” recalls the hospitality entrepreneur. “That’s how I started the business.”
Soon Moussi was managing a team of coffee carts at weekend footy matches, athletic meets and boat shows but his end goal was always to open his own bricks-and-mortar store. It took three years to save up the money for that first café. Another followed in 2013 and in the eight years since, he’s opened 23 more venues (and sold nine) in Melbourne suburbs, like Fitzroy and Malvern, and all the way to Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast. Moussi’s Only Hospitality Group now generates revenue of over $30 million a year.
The most significant move, however, was opening his own coffee roasting facility – Inglewood Coffee Roasters – in mid-2017. “We had five or six stores at that time and roasted roughly 300 kilos a week for our venues,” says Moussi. “With so much demand just from our own venues that was enough for Inglewood Coffee Roasters to start cash-flow positive before we sought more customers.”
Inglewood was selling wholesale by the end of that year and currently supplies more than 100 cafés around the country from the Coburg North roastery. Add in a swiftly growing ecommerce site selling beans and a new line of coffee pods direct to the public and Inglewood now roasts up to six tonnes of coffee a week. In fact, the business is growing so fast they’re set to move to new premises and are securing new equipment with dramatically increased capacity.
“Using our American Express® Qantas Business Rewards Card, we recently paid the deposit for a much bigger roaster from the US, which is going to help us quadruple our volume,” Moussi says.
As the Card provides an unsecured line of funding with no pre-set spending limit², it’s been useful for large payments, including the deposit on that $400,000 roaster. “That means a lot of Qantas Points!” says Moussi. “And with up to 51 days to pay for purchases³, it takes the pressure off cash-flow.”
“Now we pay for all our green coffee beans with the Card and we earn Qantas Points² in other ways as well. And by paying with our Card, we earn points twice – through the store and also through the Card.”
As a result, the business’s points balance has grown rapidly; since joining the Qantas Business Rewards program a year ago, Inglewood has accumulated a whopping 700,000 Qantas Points.
Moussi hopes to use them to send his purchasing staff to visit farms in Africa and South America as soon as international travel resumes. “When COVID-19 hit, they’d just got back from Tanzania and Rwanda. Now we’re stockpiling points for when the borders open again.
“My wife and I will use them when we go travelling, too,” he adds. “We try to do a trip to Europe once a year.”
When they do, he invariably comes back with new ideas for the business. “There’s a small coffee place called Abuelo, next to the hotel we stayed at in London, that did this amazing fig and mascarpone on toast – it’s like a dessert breakfast but really fresh and now we have something similar on our menu. It seems simple but sometimes you need to be relaxed and travelling in a different environment to be inspired.”
Julien Moussi’s top business tips
Be a smart buyer: “Do due diligence and audit your suppliers regularly to make sure you’re not overpaying for things. Being a good buyer also means being smart enough to generate rewards such as Qantas Points¹ through the American Express Qantas Business Rewards Card. That way you can spend, get rewarded and holiday more economically.”
Develop a good workplace culture: “Ensuring you have a healthy work culture is so important. You’d be amazed what you can achieve if everyone is happy and motivated in their job but that means you need to be really aware of your surroundings and know how your team is feeling.”
Treat your suppliers fairly: “Everyone you do business with has to earn a crust. If you’re trying to buy something so cheap that the other person doesn’t make money, then the relationship is going to fail. But if you treat each other well, you’ll both prosper.”
Unlock the possibilities for your business. Earn 130,000 bonus Qantas Points* when you apply by 14 January 2025, are approved and spend $3,000 on eligible purchases on your new American Express Qantas Business Rewards Card within 2 months of your approval date. T&Cs apply. Available for new American Express Card Members only. Annual fee of $450 applies. Learn more.
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American Express approval criteria applies. Subject to Terms and Conditions. Fees and charges apply. All information is correct as at April 01, 2021 and is subject to change. This offer is only available to those who reside in Australia. Cards are offered, issued and administered by American Express Australia Limited (ABN 92 108 952 085). ®Registered Trademark of American Express Company.
*130,000 bonus Qantas Points: Offer only available to new American Express Card Members who apply by 14 January 2025, are approved and spend $3,000 on eligible purchases on their new Card in the first two (2) months from the Card approval date. Eligible purchases do not include Card fees and charges, for example annual fees, interest, late payment, cash advances, balance transfers, traveller’s cheques and foreign currency conversion. Card Members who currently hold or who have previously held any Card product issued by American Express Australia Limited in the past 18 months are ineligible for this offer. 130,000 bonus Qantas Points will be awarded to the eligible Card Member's Account 8-10 weeks after the spend criteria has been met. Subject to the American Express® Qantas Business Rewards Card Points Terms and Conditions. $450 annual fee applies. This advertised offer is not applicable or valid in conjunction with any other advertised or promotional offer.
1. A business must be a Qantas Business Rewards Member to earn Qantas Points for business. Membership and the earning of Qantas Points as a business are subject to the Qantas Business Rewards Terms and Conditions. Points are earned in accordance with and subject to the American Express Qantas Business Rewards Card Points Terms and Conditions. Your business will earn 1.25 Qantas Points per $1 of everyday spend, which does not include annual fees, late payment fee and fees and charges for foreign currencies. Your business will earn 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 spent at participating merchants classified as "utilities" including gas, water and electricity providers; "government" including the Australian Taxation Office, the Australian Postal Corporation, federal/state and local government bodies; and "insurance" excluding insurances offered by American Express. Industry specific earn rate may apply when you use a payment account, payment aggregator, services of a third party or online retailers that sell goods for another merchant. For example a payment made to Local Government bodies processed through a payment aggregator may earn rates at the government earn rate. Your business will earn 2 Qantas Points per $1 spent on the following Qantas Products and Services purchased on the Qantas merchant account (i.e. directly from Qantas): Qantas passenger flights (with a QF flight number), Qantas Holidays, Qantas Branded non-airfare products, and Qantas Frequent Flyer and Qantas Club membership joining and annual fees. Excludes Jetstar. For the full list of exclusions, please refer to the American Express Qantas Business Rewards Card Points Terms and Conditions.
*From 10 January 2024, once you have earned a total of 500,000 Qantas Points on your Card Account in a calendar year, your earn rate of 1.25 Qantas Points per $1 spent will change to 0.75 Qantas Points per $1 spent on everyday business purchases. All other earn rates (Qantas products, services and government, utilities and insurances spend) will remain unchanged. The points threshold is based on eligible Qantas Points earned during a calendar year and will be reset on 1 January each year. Qantas Points earned by all Card Members on a Card Account contribute to the 500,000 points threshold each calendar year. Bonus points earned from Acquisition bonus offers and marketing campaigns are excluded from the threshold.
² No pre-set spending limit does not mean unlimited spending. This is dependent on several factors such as business income, expenses, and your business’s credit rating/history.
³ Extend your cash flow by up to 51 days: depending on your method of payment, when you make a purchase, when your statement is issued and whether or not you are carrying forward a balance on your account from your previous statement period. If you pay by direct debit, your payment will be processed 10 days after your statement is issued.
