Growth is key to your business’s success. It opens up new opportunities to build your brand, expand your customer base and increase revenue.

But it can take time – and should, in many instances, if you want to ensure long-term viability.

Take NSW-based Hugos Chocolates. While start-ups traditionally look for quick growth, founder Costa Konstantopoulos wasn’t in a rush to develop his chocolate factory.

One good reason for this was that the former chemist had never run a chocolate business. He’d bought the chocolate-making equipment on a whim when he’d seen it in a Homebush property he was looking to buy in 2010.

Not surprisingly, it took a few years before the new business really got going. “I spent a lot of time mixing and matching and changing [my approach], trying to work out how to create something fun,” Costa says.

Fourteen years later, Hugos Chocolates employs up to 75 people and supplies its produce directly to well-known brands such as Woolworths and Aldi.

Even now, however, Costa puts considerable hours into creating new, often very complex, products. “Currently we’re creating a pistachio-filled ball, but it’s taken me three months to get it right.”

As Costa sees it, staying one step ahead of the market is critical to the business’s development – hence the on-trend pistachio creation. “We’ve been able to be nimble and that’s what really has driven our growth.”

1. Invest for success

None of this would be possible without considerable investment in equipment.

“We’re constantly acquiring new machinery,” Costa explains. “That’s allowed us to follow trends where our competitors might not be able to.”

But it hasn’t just been about organic growth. More recently, the business acquired Fantales from Nestlé Australia and Smyth’s Confectionery, a 110-year-old confectionery company based in Adelaide.

The benefit of these acquisitions, Costa says, is that it gives Hugos Chocolates a brand name that people have grown up with, making it easier to introduce new products.

2. Diversify

 Fawaz Khodary’s growth strategy has centred on acquisition too.

Working together, he and his three brothers have built up Your Discount Chemist – a business that’s grown to 13 pharmacies over the years with two in Canberra, one in Sydney and the rest in regional NSW, mainly on the Mid North Coast.

Diversification has also been key, however, with the brothers launching a website in 2010 to augment their physical stores. “We wanted to broaden our customer base,” Fawaz says. “It’s still a small percentage, but the online business is growing faster than our pharmacies.”

Further investment is helping. The brothers were operating from the back of a store and losing sales because of limited stock. They opened a new warehouse in Port Macquarie in 2023. “It was a big investment but now we have all the space and stock we need to keep up with demand, ” Fawaz says.

3. Have a bank that backs you

Access to finance has been critical for the growth strategy of national risk advisor McLardy McShane.

Ten years ago, it was a traditional insurance broker based in Victoria employing about 20 people. Today, it has more than 400 people nationally.

However, the firm’s existing debt structure was holding it back from fully achieving its expansion goals. As such, it was looking for a new banking partner to deliver on its long-term strategy.

NAB quickly streamlined McLardy McShane’s loan agreements to put the firm in the best position to leverage the growth and momentum it had already established. “That helped us to focus on future growth of the business in a sustainable way,” says co-founder Don McLardy.

It’s also helped that they’ve brought their people along with them. “We spend a lot of time and a lot of focus on our people,” COO Meg Long explains.

More recently, the firm created two new positions, National Head of Culture and People and National Head of Events, to ensure there’s “cross-pollination”, as Long puts it, between their original, smaller Victorian team and their considerably larger national team.

Such initiatives are working. “[At a time when it’s quite hard to keep good people,] we’re lucky to have a retention rate for staff nationally at around 96%,” Long says.

4. Source the right people

People are at the heart of BG Private’s growth strategy as well. The accounting, audit and advisory firm is very aware of current labour shortages and sees growth as key to engaging and retaining staff.

“One of the most important things [for your workers is] that they can see that there is a growth strategy in place,” says Managing Partner Eugene Smarrelli.

This also benefits your customer base. “Clients are always demanding more services, better-quality services. For that, you need to maintain your expertise,” Eugene says. “Just relying on internal growth is not sufficient; you need to go out there and look for opportunities.”

Landing the right opportunity, however, takes thorough due diligence to ensure the right cultural fit. This has been essential for BG Private, which has often acquired a firm plus its partner.

Grabbing the right opportunity also requires you to line up your financing. “Your partners have to all be on board for the transactions that you are about to embark on, but the most important thing is having someone that can support you when you are ready to move,” Eugene says. “[For us, that’s NAB].”