Bon Accord

Founder of Bon Accord, Paul L'Amie is passionate about exceeding customer expectations. So, when he recognised his company had an opportunity for exponential growth, without the system to achieve it, he reached out to Rob Morris for help.

Two years later, Bon Accord has fully embraced the Scaling Up framework. Revenue has scaled by more than 50%, profit has doubled, their team has expanded by a third, and they’re planning a multi-million-dollar plant upgrade to keep pace with opportunities.

A highly successful, growing company producing premium, specialty beverages, the team at Bon Accord understand good taste – and thousands of customers across the globe agree. Founded by Paul L’Amie 22 years ago, Bon Accord is a great New Zealand export success story.

“We entered the market at a time when the café industry was just taking off. The arrival of the espresso machine bought a new level of sophistication to cafes, and this heralded quite an opportunity,” he said. “I was lucky enough to recognise this right at the beginning and start building a range of beverage products as an alternative to coffee. We grasped hold of that emerging market, starting with drinking chocolate. Now we make and distribute 60 tonnes of drinking chocolate a month.”

Today, the company creates frappe and smoothie bases, real fruit pulps, syrups, hot and cold brews, iced tea and soft serves for many of the world’s biggest café and dining chains. Bon Accord’s vision is to create a full beverage offer for cafés, taking their innovative products to the world. With continued expansion into the UAE, Australia and Japan, their customers are a roll call of global brands.

“Rob’s all about setting us up to succeed.” – Roz Cattell

 Clarity Through Coaching

Two years ago, Paul realised, along with General Manager Roz Cattell, that Bon Accord needed external help to manage growth.

“We were growing quickly and had just brought on a major multinational customer. We could see there were areas to improve, but we also wanted to systemise our expansion,” Paul explained.

Paul had heard about the potential of the Scaling Up framework, but knew realistically, he needed help to make it work. “There’s a lot of information; I’m sure I could have read all the books, but I was never going to do that. We are just too busy. I wanted to get down to the essential elements.

“Over the years we’ve played at the edges but never committed to a proper business coaching engagement. But when Rob came along, we had a clear need, and he had the solution,” he said.

With Rob’s support and advice, Bon Accord has brought the Scaling Up framework to life and embarked on a bold export and expansion strategy.

“It’s a very trusting relationship, which is good, because we have open feedback. I’m very happy for Rob to challenge me on my thinking. He knows he can do that and he does it freely.” – Paul L’Amie

The Goal: Global Expansion

Paul says the Scaling Up framework’s structure has been transformational for growth.

“Getting a framework in place, a structure to pin our growth onto, has been all-important and a big outcome of working with Rob.

“We’ve become focused on key areas to drive our bottom line, for example being clear on the type of customer we want here at Bon Accord – which is café chains.

“We’re no longer focused on the café down the road, but the whole chain. With contact through head office, we get a great deal of leverage. We’ve spoken to one chain that has 3,500 outlets. In fact, we are currently at a point where we simply cannot take on any more customers.

“And we’re expensive. We are not a cheap option, but we’re a very high-quality option. Chains that want a product range to draw people back in the door… that’s where we fit. A lot of these chains are looking to differentiate themselves and that’s a very strong opportunity for us, an exciting market. Working with Rob has helped us get really clear about our core customer, and that’s showing up in our bottom line.

“Now we are looking at expansion of our manufacturing processes and systems, perhaps even a shift to another building, to cope with the amount of business in the pipeline.”

In fact, Bon Accord’s commitment to the Scaling Up framework has enabled Paul and Roz to expand their team by a third in just two months.

Scaling the ‘Rocks’

The first big change Roz noticed to business outcomes after bringing Rob on board was the accountability of the Scaling Up ‘Rocks’ – the quarterly priorities that drive growth.

“The rocks are, literally, absolute gems. I think we’ve achieved them all. The rocks are essential to our business now.

“For high functioning professionals like us… we’ve got stuff in our heads, we know what we’ve got to do. But when you get it on paper with your management team, your leadership team, everybody gets on the same page. That’s what Rob helped us do,” Roz said.

“You get buy-in and alignment and there’s no surprises. We commit to a goal. Scaling Up is about being accountable together,” Roz explained.

Silos to Synergy

“Before Rob came on board, we were all in our little silos. We knew what we had to do, but there wasn’t a lot of structure. What Rob does is get it all out, get it down on paper; what’s important to each department, and what’s important to the business. Our walls are covered with notes from sessions with Rob,” said Roz.

“When you start getting into the ‘nitty gritty’ of the issues we’re facing, for people to be unreserved in discussions, it’s very, very important,” Paul explained.

“Rob puts everyone at ease. He’s able to draw things out of people, which is a great skill. Everyone can share without any recriminations or concern.”

“I love Rob’s sessions. Every minute is worth it, because he just brings us back, he realigns us. It becomes a habit.” – Roz Cattell

Going Forward – Together

Roz says that Rob is very clear on his message, guiding teams on where they want to be and how they are going to get there.

“In our focus on the chains and building business, I’ve leaned on Rob a lot in discussion around that strategy, the impact and how we manage it going forward,” said Paul.

“I’ve proposed we need another factory, and he has challenged me on that. We’ve got a lot more discussion to come. Thanks to Rob’s CFO background and various other roles, he’s had exposure to every part of business, and he knows where we need to find focus.”

2026 and Beyond

Bon Accord’s export success has been extraordinary, and there are still boundless opportunities.

“We’re in Australia, the Middle East, Japan, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands – five destinations, four of which are export.

“We are very positive about the coming year. In our business, it’s all about high value, expensive plant. We have the best and most stringent food safety certifications in the world. So, any changes need careful preparation,” says Paul.

Having spent the last several months filling the pipeline, especially from the Middle East, Roz is fully focussed on this preparation.

“We’ve had a lot of plant changes recently. My goal is to get the plant up and running at maximum capacity, because we’ve got business to do, but we need to be able to deliver. We’ve got the potential for growth; we’ve got the pipeline. Now we’re saying, let’s get the plant, let’s get the people in place and make sure we are absolutely solid. It’s pretty exciting.”

“Rob has a wealth of experience – we certainly benefit from that. He has the expertise we need to navigate our growth into the new year and beyond.” – Roz Cattell