Making Your Business Successful

Her lack of culinary skills wasn’t reflected in her entrepreneurial endeavours, with Crawley’s buying activities proving a boon for the business. She naturally climbed to the role of purchasing and marketing director of J & J O’Brien in 1997—where she continues today—and has since implemented many campaigns to keep its venues ahead in the highly competitive restaurant and hotel market in Sydney. She recalls a promotion in the 90s where they gave away three BMWs, and cross-promoted the campaign through the venues—again, utilising the strength of the group to connect its venues and patrons.

Running A Successful Business

The Crawleys are now the sole co-directors of J & J O’Brien, with six prominent Sydney venues under its charge: Jackson’s on George, the Marlborough Hotel, Jordans seafood restaurant, Cohibar, Watershed Hotel, and Blue Diamond Charters.

The business is a dynamic mix of old and new, with the group having to make commercial decisions to let some venues go over the years, and add new ones when the time was right. "You have to go with the times," says Crawley about meeting trends in the market. "You try and get your emotions involved as much as you can because this is your life, it’s your passion, but commercial decisions have to take priority."

Crawley believes maintaining successful venues in the cutthroat Sydney hotel and restaurant market involves several survival factors: "You must believe in yourself, but at the same time you can’t be carried away with yourself. You have to know who and what you are, and at any given time you have to make the most out of the circumstances you’re in. You have to be dedicated and you have to have passion and a vision. Don’t try to do things you have no idea about. Be prepared to learn, learn, learn."

With Jackson’s on George celebrating its 21st birthday this year, Crawley describes this as one their biggest strengths and weaknesses. "Your strength is you’ve been there for 20 years, but it can be your weakness as well because some young people might not want to go to the same pub their father used to go to.

"Jackson’s is a unique venue and 20 years ago it was one of a kind—being on four levels offering all that entertainment and the authentic Australian pub atmosphere. I think we’re still here after 20 years because we don’t want to be what we’re not. We have a great team who are dedicated to the business. Our GM has been with us for the whole 21 years, so his knowledge and expertise is what’s helping make Jackson’s what it is.

"But you can’t rest on your laurels, you have to move with the times. You have to realise you’re not the latest and the greatest, you have to know your competition, you have to respect your competition and you have to really work in line with that to give the best of what you can to your target market. You don’t try and reach markets just because others are. You have to concentrate on what you have and the most you can achieve from that."

While Crawley still oversees all the purchasing for the group—"I still know exactly how much we pay for a bottle of Johnny Walker or a glass of champagne or a tablecloth"—she now has a dedicated staff member to help her do that. Her primary focus is now more around marketing the venues. "Twenty years ago marketing existed but it wasn’t as sophisticated as it is today. So in a tough market like this you really have to be much smarter. I feel sometimes I’ve never worked as hard as I do now, in the way that I have to work smarter. You have to realise opportunities and take them."