“I PAY MY STAFF TO GO ON ADVENTURES” How Shaun Lynch Motivates His Staff…and Keeps Them

WORDS: Ocean Road Editorial Staffn PHOTOGRAPHY Supplied

Wow! This Aussie business makes over a million dollars annually while offering employees ‘adventure leave’.

When Dog and Gun Coffee Founder, Shaun Lynch was a teenager, he never expected to run his own successful coffee and outdoor lifestyle business.

“I just barely got through Year 10. I didn’t fit in well at school and wasn’t keen on the  academic side of things. But someone took a chance on me, and I was lucky to end up with an engineering firm as an electrical draftsman,” Shaun said.

“I had a decent career in engineering, but I have an aversion to being told what to do. I just wanted to provide value while living life on my terms. I realised I needed to run my own business.”

But it was a move across the Tasman that changed the course of his life and career. In New Zealand, Shaun discovered a love for hunting and met people who taught him outdoor skills as well as a deep love and appreciation for the land.

“The skills I picked up and the mental clarity I got from hunting profoundly changed my life. I decided I wanted to create a business that could support the outdoors community and give back in a way,” Shaun said.

“I went to a Hunting Expo and was looking around at what businesses were busy and which ones weren’t. And at the coffee van, business was booming! I realised that most people love coffee but there weren’t any great options for a quality brew while out in the field. That planted the seed for Dog and Gun Coffee.”

The next challenge? Getting his vegan wife Rachel on board with running a brand that promoted hunting. Rachel, who was working as a veterinary nurse and following a vegan lifestyle, initially wasn’t happy about her husband’s newfound love of hunting.“But after seeing the positive change in Shaun and learning about how connected hunters are to the food they eat, I started to view things differently,” Rachel said.”I was surprised at how much they [hunters] care about animals and want to ensure they suffer as little as possible. It aligned with the reason I initially became vegan.”

Today Shaun and Rachel are co-owners of Dog and Gun Coffee, which is as much about promoting the outdoor lifestyle as it is about the coffee.

In fact, the pair pay their employees to go on adventures.“We encourage the staff to get out there and live their lives. We’ve compressed the work week, so they get every Friday off… and we offer two weeks extra ‘adventure leave’ on top of the standard four weeks’ annual leave,” Rachel said.

The couple takes their staff on interstate outdoor trips, runs monthly camping trips with the team and champions a flexible lifestyle. While it may be unconventional, this approach to business hasn’t negatively impacted revenue.

Dog and Gun Coffee turns over more than a million dollars a year in revenue with a total revenue of over three million dollars since launching in 2019.

In its first year of operations, the business made about 200K. Now they’re well on track to make that in a single month. Designed for outdoor explorers, Dog and Gun Coffee’s flagship product is high -quality filter coffee without the need for fancy machines, grinders or brewing equipment.

When you’re hiking through the bush or camping, saving space and weight is everything. The Pre-Loaded Drip Filters are, as the name suggests, loaded with café quality coffee and sealed for freshness.

Each filter contains 14g of coffee and to brew, it’s as simple as popping it in a mug and pouring over hot water. The coffee is roasted fresh each week and comes in three mainstay roasts as well as the occasional special-edition roast, often in collaboration with other outdoor brands.

“I think we are good at bridging the gap between the city people we used to be and the people we are now,” Rachel said. “More and more people are craving time in nature, and we want to help them achieve that.”In the future, Dog and Gun Coffee would like to encourage more people to get outdoors by expanding its support of outdoor workshops and retreats. Exceptional coffee provided, of course.

For more information visit https://www.dogandguncoffee.com/