Harris Farm Markets keep it in the family
Ever imagined your mum and dad being your bosses? Or even working with your siblings day in, day out? We spoke to Tristan Harris, GM Buying and Marketing for NSW grocery chain, Harris Farm Markets.
As Australian family business stories go, Harris Farm Markets has it all. In 1971, David Harris established the business with one small shop. Fast forward to 2010 and he is still managing director, there are 21 stores, his wife Catherine is the chairperson, and three of his sons: Luke, Angus and Tristan, work in the business.
Tristan, 35, is the general manager buying and marketing, and only joined the family business two years ago. He’d decided to earlier than that though. After short careers in engineering and IT and starting up and selling a couple of his own businesses, he thought he was fast becoming a jack of all trades and a master of none. “I phoned mum and dad and said ‘I’m ready to join the business,’ and they told me they didn’t have a job for me! I thought ‘Fine, I’ll go back to Seek then!’
“A couple of months later though, they had something for me and said they’d love me to come on board. The timing was really good for them and me.” Tristan didn’t join the business on leaving school because it was going through a bad patch financially. “In the late eighties and nineties, the business became a shadow of its former self and went down to just two stores. This was around the time I was going to uni.” That certainly isn’t the case now, with Harris Farm Markets recently opening its 21st store in Sydney’s Potts Point.
So what’s it like having your mum and dad as your bosses at work? It actually works, very well, says Tristan. “You get used to being told what to do by your mum and dad. They also understand you and how you work much better than anyone else could. You can speak very, very honestly to each other and there’s just an absolute trust in each other.”
It’s not all easy going though. “Sometimes it can be extremely difficult working for your parents at the same time,” says Tristan. “But we’re all used to fighting with our parents sometimes!”