Co-founder of Gloria Jean's Coffees in Australia, Mr Irvine is always on duty, even as The Journal meets him in the relaxed environment of the Berwick franchise of the expanding coffee chain.

Mr Irvine has spotted an upside-down banana bread label in the pastry counter and is doing a mental head count of the clientele - a diverse mix of students, seniors, mums with kids and business people.

"The majority of the franchise owners actually want the input," he says.

He is able to instantly rattle off the locations of Gloria Jean's outlets in Berwick, Cranbourne, Dandenong and Pakenham (one each) and Fountain Gate, which has two.

And Mr Irvine says expansion in these suburbs is "absolutely" possible.

His main mission is to address former Casey councillor Rob Wilson's 13 business management students at Clyde's Hillcrest Christian College.

Having stepped back from the day-to-day running of the company, Mr Irvine enjoys travelling from his Sydney base to pass on the lessons he has learnt over his successful 45-year business career.

Such as getting rid of what he calls the "rear vision mirror" mentality.

"So often you look in the mirror and it's small and distorts the past. But the windscreen is wide and everything is out there."

A committed Christian, Mr Irvine believes the Bible contains valuable pointers for conducting a good life, inside and outside the office.

"All the guys who do all the leadership and business courses, every principle they quote actually comes out of the Bible. They just don't admit it.

"There's a lot of stuff in Jesus' life, such as building a leadership team. I quote Michelangelo, Henry Ford and Winston Churchill but I can't not quote some of the principles in the Bible that are very relevant."

Mr Irvine, a member of the high-profile Hillsong Church, had his own cross to bear last year when allegations surfaced that young women with mental illness attending the Mercy Ministries' Christian counselling program had been forbidden from getting medical or psychiatric care unsupervised, or from doctors independent of the program.