| Name | Lenard Poulter |
| Position | Founding Director (Concepts) |
| Speaking Topics | Specialty Retailing including; Food, Retail, Franchise, Business, Branding and Marketing, Company History |
| Speaking Fee | N/A. |
| Book Through | Katie Truscott
Communications Coordinator Lenard’s (07) 3100 7818 |
“I don’t eat to live but live to eat. I love food with a passion. I love creating it, I love sharing it and I love consuming it.” – Lenard Poulter
One of the true pioneers of value-added retailing in Australia, Lenard Poulter first discovered his passions for food half a century ago, amid the smells and sounds of the Victoria Markets in Melbourne. After pursuing an early career as a butcher in one of the world’s toughest retail centres, Len decided to travel and further his education in general food retail, culminating in time spent in London working on the meat displays in Harrods.
Having witnessed an extensive range of value-added foods and meals on his travels, Len returned to discover that the Australian market was yet to address this emerging trend, and set about testing the waters by adding sauces and marinades to products in his own store. Demand for readymade products like kebabs and stir-fry soon told him there was a niche in the Australian market for convenient pre-prepared foods.
After a short research period, Len determined poultry to be the ideal product, Queensland the ideal location, and franchising the ideal means by which to expand his value-added concept. He subsequently opened and franchised his first poultry store in Sunnybank Hills, in Brisbane in 1987.
Lenard’s is growing quickly through our stand-alone store network and extensively positioning itself inside supermarkets and butchers, and the next major challenge is to introduce the franchise into other lucrative overseas markets. Every day Lenard’s strives to find avenues that may better distribute the Lenard’s product and brand to a wider audience of consumers.
Lenard’s celebrates its 22nd birthday this year and with 179 stores throughout Australia, Len now finds time for public speaking engagements and business consulting along with the ongoing development of the company.
Through public speaking, Len enjoys sharing the philosophies of successful business practices. Len has also taken up a mentoring role for specialty retailing, with extensive knowledge and understanding of value-adding, marketing and branding, food, franchising and business.
After twenty two years at the helm of Lenard’s, and over 40 years as a retailer, Len is one of Australia’s most experienced specialty retailers and still takes a hands on role within his company never losing sight of the company vision to put “More Lenard’s chicken on more tables, every day”.
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Lenard’s has sold more than 450 million chickens, served more than 130 million customers and injected more than $1 billion into the Australian poultry market since the first store opened in Queensland. The revenue for the 2007/2008 financial year exceeded $145 million and has grown 3% over the last three years.
Lenard’s remains one of the great success stories of Australian retailing.
