Tim Attiwill on life after My Kitchen Rules

My Kitchen Rules TV finalist (2017) Tim Attiwill is owner of a thriving food truck business, CAROclub. After completing a Bachelor of Business degree at Le Cordon Bleu Adelaide in 2006, Tim’s career has been on a decidedly upward trend.

Tell us about your career journey since graduation.

My career has been all over the place, but it's landed me where I am now, as the owner of a successful food truck business, CAROclub. I started the business a couple of years ago with two friends, and it's been on the up since then.

After graduating I moved into the event world, working at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre for many years. From there I switched over to media, had a bit of a career change and also returned to studying where I did my postgraduate in marketing. That led me to a number of different radio roles across the country, and eventually, applying for My Kitchen Rules which is how I’ve ended up here after using that platform to start my business.

What was the light bulb moment that led you into hospitality?

For me, entering hospitality was a no-brainer. My dad's a chef, my mum is Italian. So I always had the food world around me. It was something I was always naturally good at and naturally enjoyed. But I did want to explore other opportunities, and that's why I tried radio and the media industry as well. But eventually I ended up back where I belonged. I wanted to be my own boss, and the hospitality industry was the place that made it happen.

Why did you want to study a degree at Le Cordon Bleu?

When I first thought about Le Cordon Bleu, I think it was the opportunities it opens up. Le Cordon Bleu was an easy decision, being an international school, and recognised around the world - that was the biggest appeal to me - you didn't have to stay in Australia and your course would be recognized across the globe. That was something I wanted to have on my resume, so I chose a Bachelor of Business (International Convention and Event Management) at Le Cordon Bleu Adelaide, and graduated in 2006.

What advice can you give someone looking at a career in hospitality?

My biggest piece of advice for anyone looking to enter the hospitality industry is make sure you find your niche and what you love, because when you do something you love you never really work a day in your life. That’s what I've found with CAROclub. I love being my own boss. I love having the flexibility of doing what I want when I want.

We create great food here and people get joy from our food, and we feed off of that. So, there's many different paths and many different ways that you can end up in the hospitality industry. But for me, I left it, I came back to it, and now I'm my own boss in it. So I think you just stick at it, find what you love and chase that, and then you'll really find yourself for a long time on this path.

Where did you get the idea for your business?

Kyle and I looked at my Kitchen Rules as an opportunity to market ourselves and show the country what we can do. We knew it was a massive platform and we wanted to make sure we didn't waste it. So once we got onto the show, we had a bit of a plan and put that into place. It has helped us enormously, especially with the food truck business. We got a lot of coverage post production, and after the show, and the media still follows us. So for our next venture, we assume we're going to get a bit of press there as well. I think we use that tool to our advantage, and it is an unconventional approach. A lot of people go on TV these days. There's a lot of reality TV shows, but you've got to be smart about how you use it.

And finally, what does the future hold for CAROclub?

The future for CAROclub is definitely always evolving. We started off as a food truck, and that's where we've been for 12 months. The end game for us is to open a restaurant, taking what we do in the food truck and putting it into bricks and mortar. That’s the big dream.