Rocky road to global success

Franz Madlener will share the successes and failures from his 30 years in business at a Sandhurst event.
He’ll be the guest speaker at the first Greater Dandenong Chamber Business Awards breakfast for the year at Sandhurst Golf Club on Wednesday 29 March.
Mr Madlener has been a non-executive director of Dandenong Market since October 2012 and is the former CEO and franchisor behind one of Australia’s fastest growing food and coffee brands, Bonbons Bakery.
Under his leadership, the number of stores grew from two to 22 in just 18 months and Bonbons picked up multiple awards for its cakes, pies and coffee along the way.
Mr Madlener is also the former founder and CEO of the Villa and Hut Group, which he built up from one store in Cheltenham to a global brand employing more than 2000 people.
He was a Westfield retail executive, an Ernst and Young Australian Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, a top 10 finalist in Australia’s Top Retail Executive awards and more.
Mr Madlener ran his first marathon when he was 42 and by age 48 had completed 10 marathons and ultra-marathons and competed in two Iron Man challenges.
He currently works as a start-up investor and business mentor to help bring people’s ideas to market.