Fast Food/Casual QSR Restaurant Tour of Sydney Australia 2014

Food Technical Consulting
2014 QSR
Restaurant Tour of
Sydney Australia
Darrel Suderman, PhD

Sydney Australia Restaurant Tour
Quick Overview of Australian QSR and Fast Casual
Restaurants
»Planning to visit Australia soon?
»Here’s an overview of the leading QSR and Fast Casual
restaurants brands in Sydney – with some insightful
commentary.
»Some overriding menu trends that I observed were:
» Growing Middle Eastern and Asian demographics
» Fried, Grilled, and Roasted Chicken QSR Restaurants predominate
» Two new Chipotle-style restaurant brands, Mad Mex and Guzman y
Gomez, are catching fire and growing fast!
» Healthy Menus, Locally Grown, No added Additives, etc., are growing
marketing points.

Sydney Restaurant Tour
Restaurant Tour Trending Best Practices
Some of the trending best menu practices are:
»Charcoal grilling chicken
»Halal chicken availability
»Customers ability to “customize” their burger order entry
electronically at a Kiosk (McDonalds)
»Portuguese flavored fried chicken (Oporto)
»Healthy Menus, Locally Grown, No added Additives, etc., are
growing marketing points.

Sydney Restaurant Tour
Restaurant Tour Best Products
In my opinion, the following restaurants had some of the best menu
items in their category:
»Best of Sydney Chinese food @ Mr. Wong’s
»“Sweet & Fiery” sauce for wings and other chicken products (KFC)
»Chicken Ribs @Nando’s
»Made Fresh garlic mayo dressing (with strong garlic flavor)
»High Quality Salads @ grilled chicken restaurants
» Ribs @ Ribs & Burgers (pork, beef, and lamb)
»Hot Dogs @ Haute Dogs’
»Greek Flat Bread & Wraps @ Zeus
»Cookie Crumble Shakes @ Original Meatball Company
»Artisan hand crafted sausages @ Snag Stand
»Wraps @ Le Wrap
»Tacos and Burritos @ Mad Mex and Guzman y Gomez

Fast Casual/Sit Down
Mr. Wong’s
2014 Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide
Awards, Two Hats & Best New Restaurant
Can’t Miss Salt and Pepper Pork Ribs- My
favorite!
Modern Cantonese menu, from dim sum to
classic mud crab, served in a lavish French-
colonial setting
Photo by: lilyancupcakes.blogspot.com

McDonalds’McCafe
McDonald’s McCafe in Australia is larger
than what I have seen in the United States.
It is detached from main front counter,
operates as a stand alone business, and
sells higher quality dessert products than
Starbucks. In my opinion, Starbucks is
non-competitive in the Australian market
primarily due to local Starbucks
knockoffs – which is also true in Korea
and Colombia South America. The
McDonald’s McCafe that I visited sold
cheese cake, donuts, cakes, and other
pastries. Other McCafe products included
toasted veggie omelets & ham, roast beef,
Reuben deli, chicken pesto, and sausage
omelets & chorizo breakfast and lunch
sandwiches – a clear departure from their
traditional hamburger menu in U.S.
QSR Fast Food
McDonalds McCafe Front Counter

Zeus Greek Street Food
Photo by: missklicious.blogspot.com

SUMO Salads
QSR Fast Food
Sumo Salads sets the salad
standards in Australia. Sumo
Salads are primarily located in
malls. Notice the abundant case
display of salads and extensive
variety.
SUMO Salads

Ribs & Burgers
Photo by: chasingaplate.com/ribs-burgers/

Burger Shed
QSR Fast Food
Decadent burgers from grass feed
angus and Wagyu cattle. Wagyu
beef seems to be more common in
Australia than U.S. Also served
chicken tortillas cheese coated
fries.
The Burger Shed

KFC Krushbar
KFC has attempted to create their
own McCafe®, They were selling
ice slushies in one store with
following flavors: Iced Mocha,
Mint Chocolate, Strawberry,
Kookies ‘n Kream, Golden
Gaytime, Mint Chocolate, and
Violet Krumble. There was nothing
new and innovative. I teach an
international workshop annually
entitled ‘The 10 Pillars of Food
Innovation’, and there is nothing at
Krushbar that is innovative!
QSR Fast Food

QSR Fast Food
Original Meatball Company
The meatball bun had a soft internal texture that was
outstanding. I liked the wide variety of meatballs, fries with
rosemary, thyme, and sea salt. They also served a range of
salad bowls, and cookie crumble shakes.
Photo by: foodboozeshoes.blogspot.com

Hungry Jacks (Burger King)
»It’s a long story, but Hungry
Jacks sells Burger King USA
menu products, but does their
own local store marketing.
The only unique menu items
was a beef sausage muffin
with egg, BBQ sauce, melted
cheese, and/or bacon
(Australian-style).
QSR Fast Food

QSR Fast Food
Snag Stand Haute Dogs
Artisan hand crafted sausages using lean low fat meats, all natural
casings, and gluten free with no artificial colors or flavors. They
use Australia’s most respected and awarded artisan butchers:
Rodriguez Bros • AC Butchery • Black Forest Smokehouse.
They represent quality products. Diverse Menu includes chili
cheese fries, 100% Tasmanian Russet Potatoes, and beer
battered onion rings
Photo by: liveblissful.wordpress.com

Le Wrap
QRS Fast Food
Le Wrap sets high standards for
healthy wrap category in
Australia. They sell a wide range
of high quality wraps made fresh-
to-order and salad bowl products

QSR Fast Food
Grill’d
Grilled serves a variety of buns, beef burgers, chicken burgers,
lam burgers, veggie burgers, steak sandwiches, chips and sides,
sliders, and salads. This was a very classy fast casual restaurant
that uses Australian born and bred grass feed beef and lamb –
free of hormones and antibiotics.

Killa Burger Grill
Serves 3 sizes burger, but is
know of its 30 cm wide Killa
Burger. In addition, they sell
pork ribs, beef, chicken, and
lamb burgers – and wraps –
as well as some salads, fries,
cole slaw, and pasta squid.
Desserts are soft serve ice
cream, churros, and fried ice
cream. The Killa Burger
competition is the destination
point driver – must eat the
mega burger within a preset
time limit.
QSR Fast Food

QSR Fast Food
Mad Mex
Photo by: http://trish-eats.blogspot.com

El Jannal Charcoal Chicken & Lebanese
Cuisine
"Their specialty is marinated
chargrilled chicken. Using
their own secret recipe,
owners Lina and Chahine
Azzi grill dozens of chickens
daily on the rotisserie at the
back of the shop, before
serving them either whole or
in Lebanese-style sandwiches
with salads, garlic sauce and
pickles.“
QSR Fast Food

QSR Fast Food
Guzman y Gomez
» Sells wide variety of high quality Burritos, Fajitas
» Tacos, Nachos, Fresh Salads, and Quesadillas
Photo by: 2303hamilton.wordpress.com

Nando’s
Nando’s serves flame-grilled chicken
and represents a formidable
challenge the Oporto menu. Strong
focus on Peri-Peri sauce flavors (4)
and the Portuguese cultural heritage
QSR Fast Food

QSR Fast Food
Lok Lok Dumpling Bar
Photo by: chryshijing.blogspot.com

Bon Pollo
Sells Charcoal Chicken with a
wide range of wraps, BBQ
skewer plates, sides, and
other platters. Wraps reflect
Middle Eastern and
Mediterranean taste
preferences
QSR Fast Food

QSR Fast Food
Red Rooster
Photo by:Vogue.com
Red Rooster is know for its roasted chicken served with a wide
variety of premium sides. If you love perfectly roasted chicken as
much as I do, you’ll love Red Rooster. Their chicken is always
fresh, deliciously hand seasoned, and there’s no artificial colors,
flavors, added hormones ,or MSG in the meals they prepare.

QSR Fast Food
Chargrill Charlie’s
Chargrill Charlie’s seems to be a
more formidable challenge to our
menu, and a brand that we need to
keep our eye on to prevent their
continued growth. They sell a wide
range of salads, wraps, rolls, flame
grilled chargrilled chicken products
(including Portuguese chicken,
sauces ) including Portuguese Piri
Piri sauce), chicken and beef
Kebabs, They seem to anchor their
products in the Portuguese heritage
more than Oporto. The Thai
chicken sauce also goes well with
Portuguese Chicken.

Sidhu’s
QSR Fast Food
I found Sidhu’s represents a
growing international trend and
demand for Fresh Indian Food
with exceptional taste and
quality.
Sidhu’s Sydney Australia Mall Store

QSR Fast Food
Chicken Treat
Chicken Treat started in 1976,
and has expanded to over 70
stores across Western Australia. It
is now a part of Quick Service
Restaurant Holding (QSRH)
Group. Chicken Treat is known
for it’s hand-stuffed, slow
cooked, golden, tender rotisserie
chicken. The also serve a
delicious fried chicken.
Photo by: theherald.com.au

Awafi Chargrilled Chicken
Awafi Chargrilled Chicken
reflects a strong Middle
Eastern menu and flavor
influence - that consists of
splayed Halal whole chickens
cooked over a charcoal pit.
Awafi also served delicious
wraps, mashed potatoes, fries,
and kebabs. Condiments
served with the chicken
included heavy garlic
flavored mayo sauce with
exceptional pickled
vegetables.
QSR Fast Food

QSR Fast Food
Oporto Portuguese Chicken
»Best in Australia grilled Portuguese chicken
»I found Oporto Chicken to have an exceptional rich
Portuguese flavor and menu heritage.AOporto®'s Founder,
Antonio Cerqueira, brought much more to Australia than
just his accent, when he opened his first Portuguese-style
chicken restaurant on Sydney's famous Bondi Beach in
1986, stunning the locals' taste-buds and quickly gaining
an ever-growing army of fans. Their chicken burgers are
still known as Bondi Burgers – served with 1, 2, or 3
chicken breast fillets.
»That first splash of Antonio's now legendary, almost
addictive sauce has grown into a wave of great taste that
now satisfies over 13 million people a year.

OGalo
OGalo serves Portuguese
flavored chicken and burgers, It
also sells charcoal chicken with a
wide range of wraps, BBQ
skewer plates, side salads, and
other platters. Although known
for its charcoal chicken, their
menu has a strong emphasis on
burgers. Overall, the food is not
exceptional, and not worth the
time to taste, unless you have
time to waste.
QSR Fast Food

QSR Fast Food
Mr. Crackles
»The most unusual pork fast food restaurant in Sydney and the world!
They served huge fried pork rinds and delicious roasted pork
sandwiches! It is a hard-to-find restaurant, but worth saying that you
ate there.
Photo by: kermime.wordpress.com

Frango Charcoal chicken
Frango charcoal chicken serves a
breast fillet cooked on a hotplate
which represents the menu
centerpiece of their famous
Original Portuguese Burger with
Piri-Piri sauce – promoting
Portuguese heritage. The
burger has been awarded a
Top 10 Burger in Sydney.
Skewered meats are also served
with desserts composed of
Crème Caramel, Portuguese
Tarts, Crème Brule. Frango is a
local competitor to be reckoned
with.
QSR Fast Food

QSR Fast Food
Donut King
Donut King food was average donut fare, and
clearly not to be compared to Voodoo Donuts in
Seattle and Denver in the United States.
Photo by: forever-craving.blogspot.com

QSR Fast Food
QSR
Pie Face
Made with Australian beef and a
flaky crust

Retail Fast Food
Retail Grocery Concept Tour
New IGA X-press Concept (expanded & oversized convenience
store concept). Other competitors includes Coles and
Woolworths

Food Technical
Consulting
Dr. Darrel Suderman
dsuderman@foodbevbiz.com
www.foodbevbiz.com
Contact
Information
Sydney Australia Restaurant Tour

Fast Food/Casual QSR Restaurant Tour of Sydney Australia 2014

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