Muffin Break

Last updated

Muffin Break
Company type Division
Industry Hospitality
Founded1989;35 years ago (1989) in Coolangatta, Queensland, Australia
Area served
Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom
OwnerFoodco
Website muffinbreak.com.au

Muffin Break is a franchise business of Foodco which operates small bakery cafe coffee shops throughout Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. As of 2013, Muffin Break had 275 stores worldwide: 190 in Australia, 37 in New Zealand and 46 in the United Kingdom. [1] Muffin Break is the sister company of Jamaica Blue, which is also a franchise of Foodco. [2]

Contents

History

The Muffin Break concept originated in Canada in the 1970s but was acquired by Foodco and refined for contemporary conditions. [3] The first of the new style Muffin Break stores opened in 1989 in Coolangatta, Queensland. [4]

The first Muffin Break store in New Zealand opened in Auckland in 1994. [5] Muffin Break entered the UK market in 2001. [6]

In December 2015, a partnership was made between Foodco and Croc's Playcentres, an Australian family entertainment centre franchise. The partnership saw Muffin Break cafes included in all new Croc's Playcentres and existing Croc's franchisees given the opportunity to convert their cafes to Muffin Break cafes. [7]

Labour practices

In 2014, an investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman found a 24-year-old student working at two franchised Victorian stores had been underpaid almost $20,000. The store owners agreed to repay the employee and entered into an enforceable undertaking with the Ombudsman. [8] [9]

In 2016, the former owners of a franchised Hobart store were investigated by the Ombudsman and found to have underpaid two employees over $46,000 between April 2014 and December 2015. The store owners agreed to repay the employees and entered into an enforceable undertaking with the Ombudsman. [10] [11]

On 23 February 2019, Muffin Break General Manager made headlines when she spoke about young people not wanting to work unpaid internships, telling a journalist: "There's just nobody walking in my door asking for an internship, work experience or unpaid work, nobody." These comments were later refuted by the journalist who wrote the original story as being misinterpreted "She never said she expected all of her employees to work for free, as many online seem to be suggesting, only that those who put themselves forward to do unpaid work were more likely to get a job". [12]

In September 2019, the Australian Fair Work Ombudsman found that franchisees of Jamaica Blue and Muffin Break cafés had underpaid 166 employees a total of over $26,000. [13]

In April 2023, Wage Inspectorate Victoria charged a Muffin Break franchise in Melbourne with 360 child labour offenses relating to three employees under the age of 15. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Borders Group</span> American book retailer, 1971 to 2011

Borders Group, Inc. was an American multinational book and music retailer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. In its final year, the company employed about 19,500 people throughout the U.S., primarily in its Borders and Waldenbooks stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Starbucks</span> American multinational coffeehouse chain

Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker at Seattle's Pike Place Market initially as a coffee bean wholesaler. Starbucks was converted into a coffee shop serving espresso-based drinks under the ownership of Howard Schultz, who was chief executive officer from 1986 to 2000 and led the aggressive expansion of the franchise across the West Coast of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Hortons</span> Multinational coffeehouse and restaurant chain

Tim Hortons Inc., known colloquially as Tim's, Timmies, or Timmy's, is a Canadian multinational coffeehouse and restaurant chain with headquarters in Toronto; it serves coffee, donuts, sandwiches, breakfast egg muffins and other fast-food items. It is Canada's largest quick-service restaurant chain, with 5,701 restaurants in 13 countries, as of September 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woolworths Group (Australia)</span> Australian multinational retail company

Woolworths Group Limited is an Australian multinational retail and finance company, primarily known for the operation of its retail chain Woolworths Supermarkets across Australia, Woolworths in New Zealand and its discount department store Big W. Headquartered in Bella Vista, Sydney, it is the largest company in Australia by revenue and number of employees, and the second-largest in New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hungry Jack's</span> Australian fast food franchise

Hungry Jack's Pty Ltd. is an Australian fast food franchise of the Burger King Corporation. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Competitive Foods Australia, a privately held company owned by Jack Cowin. Hungry Jack's owns and operates or sub-licenses all of the Burger King/Hungry Jack's restaurants in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinnabon</span> American baked goods store chain

Cinnabon, Inc., is an American chain of baked goods stores and kiosks, normally found in areas with high pedestrian traffic such as malls, airports and rest stops. The company's signature item is the cinnamon roll. As of December 2017, there are more than 1,200 Cinnabon bakeries operating in 48 countries. Its headquarters are in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esquires</span>

Esquires also known as Esquires Coffee or Esquires The Organic Coffee Company is an international coffeehouse chain comprising more than 90 stores in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Asia the Middle East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shipley Do-Nuts</span> American doughnut company and coffeehouse chain

Shipley Do-Nuts is an American doughnut company and coffeehouse chain with more than 300 franchised stores in the Southern United States, including Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, and as of 2018, Colorado. Its headquarters are located in Northside, Houston, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lush (company)</span> British cosmetics company

Lush Ltd. is a British cosmetics retailer which is headquartered in Poole, Dorset, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1995 by trichologist Mark Constantine, his wife Mo Constantine and five other founders.

mmmuffins Canadian restaurant chain

Marvellous Mmmuffins, also known as mmmuffins, was a Canadian restaurant chain that sold coffee and muffins. It was established in 1979 and granted its first franchise in 1980.

Minimum wage law is the body of law which prohibits employers from hiring employees or workers for less than a given hourly, daily or monthly minimum wage. More than 90% of all countries have some kind of minimum wage legislation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Calombaris</span> Australian chef and restaurateur

George Dimitrios Calombaris is a Greek Australian chef and restaurateur and television personality. Calombaris was one of the judges of the Network 10 series MasterChef Australia from 2009 to 2019. Prior to his role on MasterChef Australia, Calombaris appeared regularly on the daytime Network Ten cooking show Ready Steady Cook.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Coffee Club</span> Australian café chain (1989)

The Coffee Club is an Australian multinational coffeehouse-style café chain. Originally created in 1989 as a place to get "an excellent coffee", the concept includes cafébar/restaurant stores with expanded menus and full table service. In 2005, The Coffee Club franchise was brought to New Zealand by Brad Jacobs and Andy Lucas opening their first store in Wellington. As of 2021, they have over 65 stores all around New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wage theft</span> Denial of wages or employee benefits rightfully owed to an employee

Wage theft is the failing to pay wages or provide employee benefits owed to an employee by contract or law. It can be conducted by employers in various ways, among them failing to pay overtime; violating minimum-wage laws; the misclassification of employees as independent contractors; illegal deductions in pay; forcing employees to work "off the clock"; not paying annual leave or holiday entitlements; or simply not paying an employee at all.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chatime</span> Taiwanese global franchise teahouse chain based in Taiwan

Chatime is a Taiwanese global franchise teahouse chain based in Zhubei. Chatime is the largest teahouse franchise in the world. Its expansion and growth model is through franchising. It operates 2500+ outlets in 38 countries. In 2006, it opened its first store outside of Taiwan in California, United States and it has since expanded to China, Malaysia, Canada, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Australia, New Zealand, Maldives, India, Ireland, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Mongolia, Lebanon, Mauritius and South Korea, Switzerland among others now.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamaica Blue</span> International coffeehouse chain

Jamaica Blue is a franchise business of Foodco which operates small coffee shops throughout Australia, New Zealand, UK, China, Malaysia, Singapore and United Arab Emirates. The company mainly operates businesses in residential areas, malls, airports, hospitals and high streets. In 2012, the first Jamaica Blue cafe opened in Singapore, in that same year the cafe celebrated its 20th anniversary. Jamaica Blue has around 134 cafés internationally in 7 different countries. It has opened its 100th store in Australia on 16 October 2014, with the 100th café opened in the new development of Westfield Miranda. Jamaica Blue is the sister company of Muffin Break, which is also a franchise of Foodco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Petroleum</span> Australian petrol retailer and importer

United Petroleum is an Australian petrol retailer and importer. It was established in 1993 and, as of October 2020, has over 450 petrol stations in Australia. The company also owns Pie Face, a pie outlet it acquired in 2017 and subsequently rolled out to many of its service stations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Retail and Fast Food Workers Union</span> Australian trade union

The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) is an Australian trade union for workers in the retail and fast food industries.

Retailing in New Zealand is an important sector in the economy of New Zealand, as a channel for a large proportion of household spending and international visitor spending.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strandbags</span> Australian and New Zealand retailer

Strand, or the Strandbags Group, is an Australian and New Zealand retailer of handbags, wallets, luggage, backpacks and other personal accessories. The chain has over 234 stores around Australia. It also has 26 stores in New Zealand. It owns the private label brands Evity and Nere.

References

  1. ↑ "About Us". muffinbreak.com.au. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  2. ↑ Matt Ireland : Simon Murton : Bryt. "Muffin Break: Muffin Break UK". muffinbreak.co.uk. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "Our Story". Muffin Break, UK. Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  4. ↑ "Foodco Group Announces Acquisition" (Press release). infonews.co.nz. 10 April 2010. Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  5. ↑ Shaw, Aimee (6 April 2018). "Cafes, food retailers trade better next to fashion powerhouses, Muffin Break boss says". The New Zealand Herald. ISSN   1170-0777. Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  6. ↑ "Muffin Break continues UK expansion drive". Hospitality & Catering News. 14 August 2018. Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  7. ↑ "Croc's Playcentres ties up with Muffin Break". Franchise Business. 9 December 2015. Archived from the original on 1 March 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  8. ↑ O’Byrne, Thomas (18 October 2014). "Muffin Break worker underpaid $20,000". Herald Sun. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  9. ↑ "Muffin Break stores to reimburse underpaid Chinese student $20,000". Fair Work Ombudsman. 10 October 2014. Archived from the original on 1 March 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  10. ↑ Kempton, Helen (3 November 2016). "Former muffin shop owners stiffed staff". The Mercury. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  11. ↑ "Chinese workers underpaid $46,000 at Muffin Break outlet in Hobart". Fair Work Ombudsman. 3 November 2016. Archived from the original on 1 March 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  12. ↑ "Muffin Break outrage misses the point". NewsComAu. 24 February 2019. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  13. ↑ "Jamaica Blue and Muffin Break employees back-paid". Fair Work Ombudsman. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  14. ↑ "Muffin Break franchise hit with 360 child labour charges". The Guardian . Australian Associated Press. 26 April 2023. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on 11 June 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.