John-Paul Drake

Background

About John-Paul Drake

John-Paul joined the family business in 1990 while still in school and is now a Director of Drakes. Starting as a nightfill worker pushing trollies and stacking shelves he progressed to managing departments and then eventually entire stores. Jp spent some time in Queensland running the state operations before moving back to South Australia to take up the role of Assistant General Manager under the tutelage of Bob Soang. Having spent his entire life in the grocery industry, Jp has a keen interest in digital trends and food trends and their relevance to the grocery industry. More recently, Jp has been the driving force behind the next brand evolution of Drakes, advocating for a business that talks directly to their customers, team and suppliers and building on the culture that Roger started. His desire to be open, honest, authentic and communicative is rare in an industry that traditionally operates behind closed doors. Despite having spent $125m building the Distribution Centre, the most exciting thing to have happened in 2019 was Jp’s LinkedIn Australia Top Voices 2019 award, for his straightforward & honest view of the Retail industry in his video series “Retail Wrap.”