He said that the Australian ap- proach is “about feeling like a local not a customer — and that was the thing that was so apparent when I moved to the U.S.” Stone said he had worked in Lon- don as well “so I just thought there’s an opportunity here to build some- thing that really doubles down on the quality, especially coffee, but is very much hospitality and service.” Stone opened his first location in 2013, and the company has about 65 locations. “I’d never worked a day in hospital- ity,” he said. “I didn’t have any prec- edent where you have to follow this rule or you can’t do that, so I’ve defi - nitely pushed the envelope.” Bluestone has opened in small and out-of-the-way locations, but close to where Australians worked. Bluestone did some very small rounds of funding with friends and family. The first big round was $1 mil - lion with investment banking friends, he said, and that was followed by one of $25 million. “I think that plan was just to dou- ble the business as fast as we could,” Stone said. “Whether that was the right strategy or not, that was the play that we were running and so we closed in the middle of 2018 and we used all the money to really go from, say, 30 to 51 stores in 18 months or so.” The COVID-19 pandemic then posed a challenge, he said, but the concept was able to adapt. “I think one thing that’s not valued enough in society is the role of hospi- tality establishments in driving com- munity, driving friendship and recog- nition,” Stone added. McHenry, the founder and CEO of Coopers Hawk, said the wine club has been a big differentiator for his con - cept. Oches noted that about 99.7% of Cooper’s Hawk’s 750,000 wine club members visited a restaurant every month or two. “This is a multifaceted business with a wine club and the wine bar that had been missing in the market- place.” McEnery said, “the way that I think of Cooper’s Hawk is that the restau- rants and tasting rooms are where we invite people to join my club, and if you do a good job operating, pro- viding great food, wine, hospitality, they’ll stay there.”
On the CREATE Founders Forum panel were, from left: Sam Oches, Tim McEnery, Nick Stone, and Cameron Mitchell.
Hear how the prolific entrepreneur went from fry cook to leader of a company with 64 restaurants under 21 different concepts. CAMERON MITCHELL FOUNDER AND CEO, CAMERON MITCHELL RESTAURANTS
NICK STONE CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, BLUESTONE LANE
Learn how an investment banker spotted a gap in the coffee market and went on to establish a successful chain of hospitality- focused coffeehouses.
Hear why combining a winery, tasting room, upscale casual dining restaurant, and robust wine club is a recipe for success for this growing brand. TIM MCENERY FOUNDER AND CEO, COOPER’S HAWK WINERY & RESTAURANTS
customers, and the corporate management. Stone, founder and CEO of Bluestone Lane coffee, moved to New York in 2010 from Australia for investment banking. “When I moved to New York,” he said, “the coffee scene was dominated really by two very suc- cessful lives chains that’s quite the opposite of the coffee culture you find in Australia, where Star - bucks actually failed. There’s no Dunkin.”
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