Brittany Garbutt

To the casual observer, Brittany Garbutt (30) is the epitome of a successful young entrepreneur, portraying effortless creativity across multiple social media platforms while replicating her winning formula for success across three different businesses. In reality, the Perth graphic designer, who has built up a small business empire of 14 stores in Perth and Melbourne, made up of 11 pretzel shops, two coffee shops and a breakfast bar-restaurant, continues to toil away relentlessly in the background.

Growing up in Perth in a South African household, Garbutt was told she was very creative from a young age, and this was constantly reinforced during her schooling. From sewing to painting to baking cupcakes, Garbutt had an insatiable appetite to turn her hand to anything where she could demonstrate her vision and flair. It was apparent to most that she had natural talent, alongside a spoonful of quirkiness.

After obtaining the highest ATAR score in Western Australia for design, Garbutt was awarded a scholarship from Curtin University to study Creative Advertising & Graphic Design, Photography and Illustration. She flourished in the challenging and creative surroundings of third-level education, gaining an insight into global cultural influences and concepts which would later help inspire different designs for her brands. Not content with just applying herself to the BA, Garbutt spent her spare time ticking off certificates at the local TAFE, including cake decorating, lingerie boning, screen-printing, and certs III and IV in events management.

Faced with starting at the bottom rung of a career ladder post-university did not appeal to someone who had such confidence in her artistic ability, and she grimaced at the prospect of partaking in such conventionality. Instead, she faced a dilemma; sink $100,000 of savings and borrowings into a business MBA or gamble and try to obtain real-life experience by starting her own business. It wasn’t a difficult choice for the 2021 Australian Young Entrepreneur Awards finalist, who used the money to buy a shipping container and establish a small pretzel store in the centre of Perth’s trendy nightspot, Northbridge, in 2017.

The idea for a pretzel store may sound left field, but Garbutt considers herself somewhat of an expert on the salted bun, having spent five years as a teenager working in a pretzel store in Whitford City shopping centre. In contrast to opening a pizza store, pretzels afforded Garbutt a blank canvas on which to build a unique brand around. Not many Australians have pre-determined views on how the German staple food should look, taste, or even its consistency. Left to her own devices, she let her creative juices run wild, creating an unapologetic pastel pink theme (including painting the sea-container pink) to complement the branding of the product. The brand, the shop and the pretzels became Instagram-able overnight.

For five months, before opening a second store, she worked intensely to make the venture a success, grafting for 19-hour shifts, seven days a week in a tightly spaced, sweaty and cramped container box.

Amassing a ‘cult following’, especially amongst 18 to 24 year-olds, it wasn’t long before the ‘on-trend’ eatery became profitable, placing Garbutt in a position to further expand, first in Perth and later to Melbourne. Pretzel Australia opened its first couple of Melbourne stores at the start of 2020. Each new store is decked out with a unique pop- culture-themed design reflecting Garbutt’s broader cultural interests, including stores inspired by the NYC subway system and the music group The 1975.

Garbutt believes her decision to concentrate on one niche product, which involved becoming fully immersed in pretzels, lent an authenticity to the business and is the key reason behind its success.