Bronwen Gora
September 09, 201212:00AM
The Sunday Telegraph
THE heir to a $265 million pet food empire has been given the task of saving confectionery giant Darrell Lea.
SWEET RECIPE
EXPAND Rocklea Road
DEVELOP Liquorice Range
CAN Boiled lollies and sweets
AXE Bulgarian Rock
The sweet-toothed saviour Klark Quinn, whose Queensland-based family created their wealth on the back of VIP pet food, is not only confident of success but also hopes his new job will lead to true romance.
“When I was a kid I used to think: Why can’t Dad make something fun like confectionery?” Mr Quinn said.
“Pet food never helped with finding girls. Maybe this will be a step up.”
Mr Quinn officially starts his new role tomorrow after the company changed hands for an estimated $25 million.
Darrell Lea collapsed in July, leading to the loss of more than 600 jobs and the closure of most branded retail outlets.
Remaining outlets cease trading at close of business today, leaving customers to seek out the 1200 pharmacies and newsagents that still stock the brand.
Mr Quinn’s grand plan for the 80-year-old company is to streamline its unwieldy number of products, scrap the less popular ones and add new products, including new varieties of the popular liquorice and Rocklea Road.
Boiled lollies are definitely on the chopping block, losing up to $2 for each packet made. Bulgarian Rock is another slow seller, with one retailer saying it barely sold.
“The first job is just to understand everything, and in a few months I’m going to get in there with a wooden spoon and start making some funny shapes in the chocolate and see what we come up with,” Mr Quinn said.
“It’s kind of like making pet food – you make some of the best products by making mistakes. There’s so much opportunity now.”
He has given himself 18 months to move the manufacturing process to a new factory at Ingleburn adjacent to the Darrell Lea warehouse. His children from his previous marriage, Ryder, 7, and Lola, 5, think he’s the “best dad in the world” for buying a chocolate factory.
two children from his previous marriage, Ryder, 7, and Lola, 5, think he’s the “best dad in the world” for buying a chocolate factory and will visit from Brisbane in the next few weeks. for dad the pressure is on.
“When we took over Bush’s pet food after it went broke three years ago it was three times the size and did three times the turn over and we didn’t get one phone call,” Mr Quinn said.
“With Darrell Lea my phone hasn’t stopped going off with congratulations and messages of support. It goes flat by midday.
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