Cowin became an insurance salesman with
London Life for four years in
Toronto before deciding to visit Australia to assess some business opportunities. Seeing long queues at a Chinese takeaway restaurant while vacationing in
Sydney, he became convinced that fast food would sell well. Aged 26 years, Cowin returned to Australia to evaluate expanding Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) into the market that at that stage had limited fast food options. having moved with his wife and young child. , those initial investors had an investment worth approximately 8.9 million. After opening eight KFC outlets, he bought the rights to Burger King. Cowin later discovered someone else had the rights to the Burger King trademark in Australia, so Cowin instead called the outlets Hungry Jack's. Many years later he had a falling out with Burger King over the name and other issues related to their franchise agreement which was eventually resolved in his favour. He talks about this in an interview In 1999
Cowin took action against Burger King Corp. in the
Supreme Court of New South Wales. Cowin alleged that Burger King attempted to terminate Hungry Jack's contract on the grounds that the Australian franchisee was not opening new units as fast as was required under the agreement. In response, Cowin's Hungry Jack's sued Burger King for breach of contract, alleging that the chain had no legal grounds for terminating the contract. The business Competitive Foods Australia continues to be privately held by his family, with an estimated value of $350 million. In 2017, Cowin advocated for the elimination of weekend worker penalty rates within Australia, regarding them as a "thing of the past". Cowin also owns Consolidated Foods, a meat processing business that exports throughout the world. Cowin sold a substantial investment in
Stanbroke Pastoral Company, one of the country's biggest cattle station operators. Cowin is also an investor in the Lone Star Texas Grill restaurant chain in Canada. Cowin is a major shareholder in RCX (Rail Crew Express), a US transportation company based in Kansas that operates 1,000 vehicles as a crew hauling service to the major railway operators. He is the Chairman and largest shareholder of Domino’s Pizza Enterprises. He also is a Director and 40% shareholder of
BridgeClimb Sydney – operator of a major Sydney tourist attraction. == Personal life ==