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Beyond the energetic buzz, the buoyant chatter and the enlivening scent of freshly ground beans that fills the air at Di Bella Coffee’s roastery in Bowen Hills is a single clue that alludes to a love so strong, it could never be quelled. Perched high above the counter sits a placard expounding the words of a satisfied coffee lover. A morning without Di Bella Coffee is like death, it declares. Nine simple words that, in their sincerity, capture the relationship that so many people have with coffee – it calms, inspires and brings communities together. For Phillip Di Bella, the enduring motivator behind the tour de force that is Di Bella Coffee, understanding the intense love affair that a person can have with the rich bean is the key to his success. In just eight years, he has grown the business from a one-person operation (himself) started with $5,000, to a multi-million-dollar outfit that serves the divine liquid to coffee lovers throughout Brisbane and Australia. But the secret ingredient to his success is not the coffee he makes. It’s the passion for people, community and the ultimate experience that has fuelled his inspired journey.

As a 10-year-old, Phillip Di Bella’s imagination was occupied with dreams of owning his own business, as he set up make-believe offices and watched episodes of Matlock, imagining his life as a high-flying businessman. At the time, the thought of making his fortune working behind a coffee machine never entered his mind.

A few years later at age 14, Phillip was given the opportunity by his brother (13 years his senior) to scrub dishes in his pizza shop. And so began an education that would determine his future. By 15, Phillip had mastered the art of pasta. By 16, he was throwing together pizzas and working his wizardry as a barista. By 18, his love for hospitality was cemented, but it was time for him to go to university. “I couldn’t decide if I wanted to be a barrister or something else, so I did a commerce degree and ended up majoring in marketing, human resources and retailing,” Phillip recalls. “I then started working at Cosmopolitan, which was the first roasting house in Brisbane, and worked my way up from there.”

Phillip’s natural knack for business immediately became evident as he helped the company grow a wholesale business and was soon made general manager. When the owner of Cosmopolitan eventually decided to sell the business, Phillip arrived at a crossroads. Should he stay with the business after it was sold? Or should he move to another company? In the end, Phillip chose neither path. “Someone gave me the great advice that you should never sell your skill – give it a go on your own,” he reveals. “I decided to start my own business in 2002 with only $5,000. At that time, Di Bella Coffee was a one-man band with no customers.”

Now, in 2010, Di Bella Coffee is a 75-person-band with 1,100 customers and rising. “It’s been a great journey with great people involved in it who have helped to build a brand that inspires passion,” Phillip gushes proudly. Passion is perhaps the key ingredient for the Di Bella brand and a word that springs up regularly in conversation with the enthusiastic businessman. “Our mantra is ‘Di Bella Coffee inspires passion,’” Phillip affirms. “Energy breeds energy, passion breeds passion and like Bon Jovi says, misery loves company. There’s no misery in this company. I want to see how strong people are when things are going bad. It’s easy to high-five when things are going well, but when things are rough, that’s how you know how good a company is, not when things aren’t falling into place.”

On what has made Di Bella more successful than other coffee roasters throughout Brisbane and Australia, Phillip suggests that it comes down to the way he views his business. “The biggest thing is understanding what industry we’re in,” he points out. “All my colleagues will tell you they’re in the coffee business. But I’m in the people business and all of my team members and I are here to provide you with that ultimate coffee experience. You won’t hear us talk about how good our coffee is, because that’s subjective and for you to tell us. What we’re here to do is to provide you with the best tangible experience, whether you’re a coffee enthusiast or you just want a coffee. And it doesn’t matter if you’re coming into our own store here at head office or buying it in a cafe. We treat the industry as a people business rather than a product business and that’s what stands out.”

The remarkable story of Di Bella was last year penned into a book, Roasted Passion, by Phillip’s long-term acquaintance, Robert Norton. But when Robert approached him and said he wanted to write the Di Bella story, Phillip had three caveats. It had to be inspirational, down-to-earth and humble – he could never forget where he came from. “I wanted it to be a marketing tool to inspire people and I wanted it to be honest but not to air dirty laundry,” Phillip recalls. “So Robert interviewed everybody who’s ever had anything to do with me or coffee, and wrote it without me editing it. The first time I saw it was as a finished product. It’s raw and tells it the way it is.”

Phillip admits that in the year and a half since the book’s release, he has reread it three times simply as a reminder of how it all started. His work ethic and optimistic attitude, he expounds, are wholeheartedly due to his parents’ influence. “I come from a working-class background,” he explains. “My parents were migrants and came from Italy with no money behind them but they did extremely well for themselves. They were not wealthy by any means but their lifestyle was wealthy – they worked hard and no one went without anything at home. We were raised with strong ethics about remembering where you’ve come from and that the only money you should count on in life is the money you make with your own hands.”

It’s clear that Phillip’s passion for people has also stemmed from his upbringing. “Our parents always taught us that if you can help someone around you, help them,” he reveals. “Surround yourself with people who are better than you and who know more than you. Those are the core values that I was brought up with and now it’s my chance to give that back to the community.”

Seizing that opportunity, Phillip has made social responsibility a fundamental aspect of his business.  He not only works regularly with numerous local charities including Mission Australia and the Working Wonders Foundation, but also ensures that all of his interactions with coffee-farming communities throughout the world result in a more positive improvement to their lives. “With our programs overseas, any farmer we deal with has to be paying for the health and education of the workers and the children who work on the farms,” Phillip explains. “If they don’t tick that box, we don’t deal with them.”

Finding that balance that allows him financial and business success, as well as being able to make a difference in the community, is what Phillip sees as truly succeeding. “Success to me is being able to complete my goals and to achieve what I set out to do,” he explains. “I break my goals down to personal, professional, financial and physical. Making sure that I achieve everything that’s set out under each category determines whether or not I’m successful. One of my personal goals is to be the best father that I possibly can be and to spend more time with my children,” he says passionately of his two-year-old daughter Arnika and his son Ali due to be born any day now. “On a personal level, my greatest achievement would have to be my daughter – looking into her eyes and seeing something I’ve created is just amazing.”

As for the people who inspire him, Phillip finds strength in the journeys of Muhammad Ali and the late businessman Alan Eagers. “I don’t believe in idolising people, I believe in respecting them,” Phillip clarifies. “But you don’t respect people on how much money they’ve got or what they have or haven’t done. You respect them on what they attempt to do and if they’re prepared to give it a go. What inspires me is seeing the people around me shine.” But what truly makes people shine, Philip says, has nothing to do with external circumstances. “Find that inner balance and peace within yourself. If you’re balanced and peaceful within, you can take on anything. I’m on the journey of trying to do that right now.”

Interview by Mikki Brammer