Kim McCosker is the founder of 4 Ingredients, now a formidable Australian publishing house. 4 Ingredients owns the rights to all 37 cookbooks, tens of thousands of recipes, images, vidoes, manuscripts and databases with the reach of millions. It is the publisher of cookbooks, ebooks, Apps and developer of a various range of kitchenware. It has grown to become one of the most recognised and trusted food brands in Australia; with a reported 1 in seven homes owning a 4 Ingredients cookbook.

In 2017, 4 Ingredients was the winner of the prestigious Best Selling Category at the World Gourmand Cookbook Awards in China. This award offered the opportunity in 2018 for Kim to cook onstage, underneath the Eiffel Tower, at the World Gourmand Cookbook Summit in Paris.

With global sales nearing 9 million copies, two TV-series for Foxtel and another produced on the Sunshine Coast almost complete, more cookbooks in the works and national Ambassador roles for IGA, BETTA Home Living and Coeliac Australia, Kim and 4 Ingredients really do own the easy, everyday, cooking space in Australia.

Committed to community, Kim sits on the Sunshine Coast Major Events Board, was part of the Sunshine Coast Council’s Biosphere Nomination Community Reference Group, was awarded the Sunshine Coast’s Most Outstanding Business Woman of the Year, 2011 and Griffith University’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.

Kim, tell us about the different areas that you have worked and what brought you to the Sunshine Coast?

After leaving school (Class of 87) I worked at EXPO 88 in Brisbane. There I had the immense pleasure of meeting people from all over the world, then in January 1989 embarked on an incredible  4-year overseas trip. I returned with the knowledge that I was VERY GOOD at spending money. So I went to uni and completed a Bach. of International Finance at Griffith University.

I then worked as a Financial Planner for MLC. I then worked as the State Manager of MLC Private Client Services before giving birth to my first of 3 sons in 2002.

You have a thriving business and 4 Ingredients is enjoying phenomenal global success so would be working long hours and spending a lot of time on the road, how do you keep balance in your life?

In some ways, 2020 has been a gift in that it took a Pandemic for many of us to realise we could achieve so much from our homes. Since March we have launched two books that both sit in the Top 10 Neilsen Bookscan Bestsellers Food & Wine List and have done since August! All this with no trips to Sydney for the usual national morning shows, no primetime news stories (because COVID dominated all airwaves) … ALL DONE FROM HOME, largely through Social Media here on the beautiful Sunshine Coast.

What traits do you think are important as a leader in business?

Practise what you preach.
Treat others the way you want to be treated.
Know your message and repeat – repetition is your reputation
Collaborate to Amplify
Work on relationships; successful business is built on successful relationships
BE NICE TO EVERYONE because kindness costs nothing!

You are an Ambassador for a number of brands and also do a lot of work to promote the Sunshine Coast – how do you fit it all in and how do you pick who you want to work with and why?

I’m very strategic who I chose to work with. I lobbied hard to work at a national level with IGA and BETTA Home Living, but I could see we all worked so beautifully together. IGA has the ingredients, BETTA the appliance and 4 Ingredients the recipes.

I lobbied for endorsement by Diabetes Australia for 4 Ingredients Diabetes. I was like a dog with a bone because I know their database is immense (over 5.0M which is an automatic audience) and because I also grew up with a Type 1 diabetic brother.

Similar Coeliac Australia, I became an official Ambassador for them in 2019 and have now written 3 cookbooks they have endorsed that they now actively market to their 3.0M strong database.

Choose wisely who you work with, ensure there is mutual benefit for ALL interested parties and focus on the benefit for others knowing that if they benefit you will too.

And what’s next on the agenda for Kim McCosker?

We have a new cookbook due out early 2021 – The Easiest Air Fryer Book Ever! Which has enormous retail support already.

Diabetes Australia are wanting a follow up cookbook, and at this point, 4 Ingredients MORE Diabetes will be published to coincide with Diabetes Awareness Week in July 2021.

I am an active member of the Caloundra State High School’s P&C and am a member of The Sunshine Coast Major Events Board.

I fundraise annually for the NBCF and since 2014, 4 Ingredients has raised and donated directly over $372,000 to the organisation.

But above all, my husband Glen and I will continue to raise our 3 beautiful sons in an area brimming with opportunity. Futures all round are very exciting.

But of all, Kim’s proudest achievements are her family, a wonderful husband and three beautiful boys who are the lights of her life and her biggest supporters.

Favourite movie and why?

Oh this is a hard one, it’s the same as What’s your favourite song? I have many, but to name one – Titanic – It was such a SURPRISE the first time I ever saw it, the way James Cameron seemlessly fused the past to the present. I cried for days after and ended up seeing it 6 times in the cinema.

Coast or City?

Oh 100% COAST. I grew up in the country. I was educated in the city. But I’ve ‘LIVED’ on the coast.

Who would you most like to meet and why?

Julia Gillard – she never got my vote – but she has always had my respect. 303 days she was our first ever female Prime Minister and I’d hazard a guess they were the toughest of her life.
Anastacia Palaszczuk – as I’m lobbying for some serious infrastructure upgrades to Caloundra State High School (does anyone have her mobile number?!?!?!)

To find out more about Kim & 4 Ingredients head to:

Website
https://www.4ingredients.com.au/

Facebook
@4ingredientspage