Karen Lebsanft motivates company owners and corporate organizations to believe in themselves and their aspirations. She helps proud and passionate business owners find the missing piece of their jigsaw and develop resilience in the teams they lead.
She is the CEO and co-founder of The Kurrajong Kitchen Group, an Australian food producer owned by her family and situated in the Hawkesbury region of New South Wales.
Below are highlights of the interview:
Tell us about yourself and your story before founding The Kurrajong Kitchen Group.
Before starting off the Kurrajong Kitchen Group, I ran a small restaurant at the North Richmond Hotel, in the Hawkesbury region of NSW. During this time, we introduced Lavosh to our customers by providing this flatbread as part of our cheese platter offering. This is starting to prove very popular. We then moved on to other locations in the area, until finally settling in Kurrajong village, still within the local community. This is where our dream began. We provided the same offering here with our Lavosh and our customers loved it, with people taking our Lavosh home, to impress their friends. While I didn’t invent Lavosh, we introduced it to the Australian market and, seeing just how popular it was proving-with so many people, I decided we would look at focusing on producing Lavosh for a wider domestic market.
Tell us more about the company.
Kurrajong Kitchen started off with an initial team of two people in 1993.
Today we employ over 35. When we initially began production, we were baking 1,200 bite-sized pieces of Lavosh per week. Today we have grown to a production line generating over 1.2 million pieces a day and Kurrajong Kitchen Lavosh is a popular choice on all major supermarket shelves in Australia, found in pantries across the nation, served on chefs’ tables and enjoyed across the skyways.
As with most businesses, we faced numerous hurdles and obstacles as we continued to grow, but each time, we managed to overcome the challenges presented and become the industry leader in our category.
Why did you choose to become a business speaker and mentor?
I am regularly approached by a wide cross section of companies and community groups, to share my story with executives, leadership cohorts, and community teams. I also receive many requests to present to SMEs and people looking to start their own businesses. I really enjoy sharing the Kurrajong Kitchen success story with people and helping them out where I can along their professional journeys. My presentations engage the philosophies and values I have developed and lived by, to highlight what can be achieved with vision, perseverance, and dedication. Mentorship is something I believe is crucial as everyone needs someone to help them along the way. I get genuine joy from advising and guiding up and coming entrepreneurs and business people to achieve their goals by drawing on my previous experiences, lessons learned, and successes.
What are your responsibilities as the CEO of the company?
My responsibilities as the CEO are to ensure we continue to maintain our vision, driven by our values. Consumers are central to everything, is a value that we live and breathe. I lead future growth and sustainability in Kurrajong Kitchen and have brought together an outstanding team of professionals to meet our value set and keep our company at the forefront of our industry. “To be a leader is to empower” is a phrase I often use and one that has contributed substantially to my success. Believing in and trusting my people, empowering them with the belief and opportunity to contribute whilst supporting them as individuals, has played a huge role in the growth of Kurrajong Kitchen. I value the strong, positive, and vibrant culture we hold. We are a family, and inclusion is critical to building a stronger team.
What have you failed at and how do you overcome challenges?
Failure is not a word I use often. Learning lessons and taking the experiences forward that are going to assist me in the future is what I thrive on. I have had many, many setbacks, disappointments and, at times, unexpected hurdles. Rather than accepting them as defeats or problems, I look at ways to address the initial issue, align it back to our vision and values, and be able to move forward. Overcoming challenges all comes down to your sense of self belief. If you believe in yourself and you believe that you can, then you will.
Kindly describe how you will specifically know what success looks like for you. And what has been the best recognition that you received as a professional.
Success, to me, is not a final destination but a continuing evolution of myself and my contributions to my business, industry, and community.
Success is the moment when you get to choose your direction, your next step. It is the moment when YOU get to choose what happens with your time, when YOU have to choose who you want to help. I have heard that success delivers freedom, wealth, and recognition, but it also delivers pain, responsibility, and accountability.
If you are willing to accept the title of success, you must be willing to take on all that comes with it. Enjoy the ride and hold on to the feeling.
While I have received international and national awards as a business woman and for Kurrajong Kitchen, the best recognition I have as a professional is the overwhelming positive feedback we get from our customers. Nothing delights me more than the messages we get from people right across the country telling us how much they love our Kurrajong Kitchen Lavosh.
What advice would you give to the next generation of leaders?
The advice I give to the next generation coming through is to believe in yourself and your dreams. Never give up and use whatever challenges and setbacks you get along the way as motivation and a lesson in how to get better. Put in place a plan. Empower yourself with a strong, loyal, and committed team. Allow the team to challenge you and your vision in the pursuit of growth and sustainability. Communication is key.
What are your future plans to sustain the company’s and your success?
My future plans are to ensure Kurrajong Kitchen maintains its position as the Number 1 choice for the consumer’s platter. We will continue to bring consistency to everything we do, knowing that our product is loved. Our innovation and continuous improvement practices will drive us to a world class facility, remaining an Australian manufacturer, supporting Australian wheat farmers and by maintaining our value set the brand will be recognised as an iconic Australian staple, if not already. The future is very exciting for Kurrajong Kitchen and I intend to continue to lead us in the new opportunities that lie ahead.
Website: www.kurrajongkitchen.com
