James Estephan’s new Lebanese charcoal chicken shop, nestled on the single shopping strip of Belfield in Sydney’s south-west, is surrounded.
There are two El Jannah outlets in the neighbouring suburbs of Punchbowl and Burwood. Then there is Anar in Croydon and Awafy in Belmore, not to be confused with Awafi (named for an Arabic saying that loosely means “good health”), which has locations in Punchbowl and Revesby.
“This area actually knows what good charcoal chicken is supposed to taste like,” Estephan says.
Then come the fighting words. “But like, tasting good charcoal chicken with heaps of flavour – I just think that’s missing,” he says.
The success of his new chicken shop Char’d will come down to its rivals, Estephan believes, not despite them. This is a baptism of fire: the suburbs of western Sydney are full of residents of Lebanese heritage, the top nominated ancestry that comprises 14-17 per cent of the local population on Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.
It is the same hotspot that gave rise to national chain El Jannah, which was founded in 1998, already has 50 locations and is rapidly expanding towards a goal of 500, aided by an $800 million injection last year from US investment giant General Atlantic.
El Jannah’s undeniable role in introducing thousands of Australians to Lebanese charcoal chicken for the first time and proving its broad appeal across mainstream Australia has meant it is the standard against which Char’d (and any other Lebanese charcoal chicken merchant) will be measured.
Then there’s the family name: James Estephan’s grandfather is a cousin of the father of Andre Estephan, co-founder of El Jannah. That makes the two men second cousins once removed. Lineage aside, their respective families have lived largely separate lives.
“I just want to set a new standard,” Estephan says. “But if the standard is El Jannah and everyone compares me to them, that’s pretty fine.”
If you can’t join ’em, beat ’em
Prowess with poultry seems to run in the family. After starting his working life at McDonald’s at the age of 14, James Estephan spent three years in the digital marketing and brand management team of Red Rooster, one of four chicken chains run by Craveable Brands. At the time, Craveable was headed by chief executive Brett Houldin, who had attempted to acquire El Jannah before he jumped ship to lead the Lebanese chicken shop’s national rollout.
Estephan had in early 2020 tried, at first, to join the family business, and had explored the option of owning an El Jannah franchise, but found the cost (about $1 million) too steep for his budget. In mid-2021, he took over a chicken shop in western Sydney’s Eastern Creek called Paradise and another in St Clair that he rebranded to Char’d two years later.
As he eyes expansion, Estephan has little room for error. He is wary of falling into the same pitfalls that some former El Jannah fans – often early adopters, or of Lebanese descent – are now criticising the growing franchise for, including poorer quality control, often attributed to rapid expansion, accusations of “selling out”, and dry chicken.
“I’ve [built] the whole brand on the negatives of other places that I’ve heard,” the 30-year-old says.
“You jump on Google reviews, Facebook, Instagram, you read comments, and you see what people are lacking, and then you do the opposite.”
When this masthead visited ahead of the Char’d Belfield branch’s soft launch last Thursday, at least half a dozen curious passers-by stopped to inquire whether it was open for business.
El Jannah chief executive Brett Houldin wasn’t one of them. Houldin says he hadn’t heard of Char’d until asked about it by this masthead, but he wishes Estephan well and says that more players will raise awareness of Lebanese cuisine.
“There [are] copycats in every industry,” Houldin says.
“I think smaller brands are trying to look at how we’ve done things and why we’ve been successful, and that’s great. The imitation is flattering.”
Houldin says he is confident of the consistency and quality of El Jannah’s product and service standards.
“All roads don’t mean that everyone’s going to be the best,” he says. “We have the highest performing fast food brand in the country, and that means there will be others that want to see if they can try and get a piece of that.”
Tim Fawaz, interim chief executive of Craveable Brands, the parent company that operates Oporto, Red Rooster, Chargrill Charlie’s and Chicken Treat, says the brands are constantly innovating their menus as customers become more adventurous with flavours and range.
“Competition is healthy, it’s a sign the category is growing and Australians continue to love chicken, which after a period of uncertainty for the [quickservice restaurant] industry in the years following COVID, is a good thing,” Fawaz says. The company, which acquired Chargrill Charlie’s in May 2023, is not looking at any other acquisitions.
Estephan, for his part, is toeing a similar line. He has plenty of praise for what El Jannah has done to expand the appeal of Lebanese cuisine. “Honestly, I look up to them. What they’ve done is great,” he says. “[But] our food is 100 per cent better.”
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Jessica Yun is a business reporter covering retail and food for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.