"What the government has come in and said is 'You the franchisor have a responsibility to make sure your franchisees did comply'," he says. "Not only do you have an obligation, should you have known, you may not have known, you may not have been complicit in the short payment to employees, but should you have known. That has created a big cost to the business of having to make sure." Loading Cowin says in the rest of the world and in Australia previously the position was this was the franchisee's issue. "We are crossing the bridge here into territory that I’m not quite sure where it’s lined up," he says. "This is new ground that Australia is venturing into. We will just see where it goes. The real purpose behind what the government is trying to do is have a more level playing field and protect the franchisees from abuse and that is not unreasonable."

A positive lift Cowin has faced some difficulties in his business interests in the past year with Competitive Foods, the operator of Hungry Jack's, reporting profit after tax down 75 per cent, to $7.5 million from $30.5 million the year in the 2017-2018 financial year. Net profit also fell at Domino's for the six months to 30 December to $53.3 million, down 9 per cent from its result a year earlier. However, Cowin says things are looking up for the economy again since the election. "In the last month there has been a positive turn, whether this is relief that Bill Shorten’s imposition that he was going to place on business has gone away," he says. "We have seen in our numbers since the election a positive lift. The Shorten proposals made people nervous. It is a certain sigh of relief in the economy."

Cowin says with Australia's wages some of the highest in the world, things are not all that bad. "We live in an egalitarian world with wage levels being what they are we are in pretty good shape," he says. "I am more positive than I am negative about the future. The war cry was 'We have to have a living wage, we have to keep raising wages', in our industry there have been substantial wage increases." Meatless burgers represent a huge potential market for Hungry Jack's, Jack Cowin says. Credit:Louie Douvis BridgeClimb, which Cowin was an investor in, lost the contract for the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb in June last year so Cowin no longer has any tourism interests but he thinks it is a sector poised for growth. "Tourism I think is a big opportunity with 1.4 billion Chinese and 100 million passports we get 1 million of them," he says. "We have the same time zone we have winter versus summer, Australia can become like Florida. As the Asian economies to continue to grow and prosper we should benefit from that."

The delivery revolution In the food sector Cowin is seeing disruptions to his business from the rise in delivery through Uber Eats and Deliveroo and the growing demand for meat alternatives. Cowin says 70 per cent of fast food customers use drive throughs. "It's more convenient to stick your arm out the window, you don't have to take the kids out of the car, all of that," he says. "What's more convenient than that? Bringing it. You don't even have to get in the car" He cites a recent Morgan Stanley report which values the delivery market in the United States at $20 billion last year and forecasts it increasing to $200 billion in value by 2020.

"That will revolutionise the business, you don't need to have these big buildings that you will paint and aircondition," he says. However Cowin says there are problems with the food delivery company's businesses, particularly the issue of whether drivers are employees or contractors. I have no desire or interest in heading for the exit because I would be bored very quickly. Jack Cowin "It's a problem that has to be resolved," he says. "Take Domino's, they are employees of ours and you have to pay all the benefits and super, and the delivery only companies hire them as contractors. My guess is that there will be a level playing field established eventually." Cowin says the playing field is not level for Domino's drivers competing against food delivery companies. Credit:Craig Sillitoe

Plant based protein To grow his business further Cowin has his sights set on the half of the Australian population who don't eat fast food. "50 per cent of the population consume fast food, 50 per cent don't," the billionaire businessman says. "The world is becoming more conscious about diet and what you put in your mouth." He has invested with the CSIRO to develop a non meat product, creating a company v2food which aims to bring a product to market by mid year. "With this plant based protein will you get some of that 50 per cent, I think you might. That's a strong possibility," he says."I don't think the beef business will go out of business but it will likely become more costly."