Meet the people keeping SA’s snack bar tradition alive
Snack bars adorned with a Farmers Union sign were once in every suburb and town. Now the humble deli is dying out – but these owners are keeping tradition alive.
North & North East
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They’re impossible to miss, but they could one day become a distant memory.
The iconic SA snack bar, traditionally emblazoned with the branding of another Adelaide icon, is a dying breed.
But they’re not extinct yet.
From Edwardstown, to Port Adelaide, Regency Park, Salisbury and in between, the cheap snack spots have sustained tradies, factory workers, suits and school students for time eternal.
They’re dressed with eye catching Farmers’ Union, Villis or Balfours insignia.
They’ve always got the classic plastic strip doorway, immediately recognisable mayonnaise or 50-year-old drink fridges.
You know them if you’re familiar with the original SA classic double cut roll or partial to a Villis sausage roll.
They’re your lifeblood if you can’t go past a Kyneton Springs sparkling mineral water or Nippy’s milk.
And they’re your first choice if you just want some old fashioned customer service with your lunch.
But to the people behind the counter they’re more than just a quick stop to satisfy a hungry appetite.
For many they’ve been an opening to Australia for migrant families or a way to chase the great Australian dream of owning a business.
They’re our snack bars, and they’re part of Adelaide culture – let’s make sure they stay that way.
Meet the people fighting to keep the humble, yet wholly iconic, SA snack bar scene alive.
Webb Street Snack Bar – Ye & Kelly Yang
2 Webb St, Queenstown
When Ye and Kelly Yang came to Australia from China 30 years ago their goals were simple.
Get away from their controlling government and open up a new world where they could freely study and grow.
Kelly had been studying law in China and was set to continue in Adelaide and Ye was an electrician.
But after the pair started cooking in an Adelaide kitchen, they realised their passion was in food and hospo.
Kelly dropped her legal studies, Ye traded in the screwdriver for spatula and the rest is history.
Now, the Yangs have run snack bars for almost 15 years and have been at the Webb Street Snack Bar for the past four.
“When we first came here we had problems with the language, so we just started cooking,” Ye said.
“And we thought, ‘we really enjoy this’, ‘we enjoy the cooking and we enjoy the customers’.”
And so they started their new life in Australia.
Ye, while missing the Kan and apostrophe at the start of his name, has a similar influence to American rap royalty Kanye West on his loyal customers.
Specially made (by My Yang) chicken schnitzel – which can be ordered as a Mr Webb special – and beef patties are the top menu items, but the snack bar stocks the typical fare.
Their baked goods are from nearby Skala bakery, and they opt for Di Bella coffee beans.
And while Kelly chose a life away from law, the Yangs used their snack bars to support their two daughters.
In a case of serendipity, one of those daughters is now a lawyer with a multinational conglomerate.
The Fenix Snack Bar – Theo Tsacos
287 St Vincent St, Port Adelaide
Theo Tsacos counts his shop as “the most iconic shop in the Port”.
He’s run The Fenix Snack Bar on St Vincent St at Port Adelaide for 17 years, but he says customers have come in before and told him they remember when the place was a tea room servicing workers on horse and carriage.
But Theo said, to his lament, snack bars are a “dying breed”.
“Nobody knows how to run them properly,” he said.
If it wasn’t for Theo, a man who cut his teeth in management at Coles, the Port Adelaide lunch spot could well be dead in the water.
As it stands, it’s a thriving eatery serving the typical snack bar fare and made to order sandwiches and rolls – including the famous Port Burger.
From day-to-day you’ll also find more exotic choices like Bolognese, roast beef or pizza.
Theo said the grub was good enough to keep the customers coming back.
“They’re all regulars,” he said.
“There’s only about 10 per cent who are drop ins, the other 90 per cent are usual customers.”
The shop is a stone’s throw from nearby Port Adelaide Magistrates Court and it’s not uncommon to bump into a high profile lawyer or magistrate ducking in for a quick snack between cases.
Cheviot Snack Bar – Nara family
23 Acrylon Rd, Salisbury South
Cheviot Snack Bar in Salisbury South is an unassuming gem of an establishment which keeps the bellies of nearby manufacturing and trade workers full with iconic South Aussie cuisine.
Nara, who did not wish to share his last name, moved to Australia from Cambodia in 1983, before working in a variety of fields.
He and his family took over the snack bar over ten years ago with the young family preparing fresh ingredients for sandwiches and double cut rolls every morning.
All hands are on deck with Nara’s wife, two daughters and two sons lending a hand in the family business.
“I can’t tell you the secret to a good sandwich, or it won’t be a secret,” Nara said.
Regal Snack Bar – Jay & Abba Halabi
1062 South Rd, Edwardstown/Melrose Park
Abba Halabi came to Australia from Lebanon more than 50 years ago.
First, he joined the Army.
Now, he owns the Regal Snack Bar.
They are two of his greatest life loves – so much so a photo of him in his dungarees takes pride of place on the mantle directly behind the cash register.
Abba and his son Jay front up to the counter of the Regal every day at 4.30am because they know their clientele.
“In the morning we sell lots of egg and bacon rolls,” Jay said.
The customers? Hungry tradies using busy South Road to get to work.
Jay said another bonus of having a huge tradie clientele was never having to spend money to get things fixed.
“If you need anything fixed then the tradies they’ll say ‘no problem, tomorrow morning when I come past I’ll fix it’,” he said.
“Some installed the lights outside, someone else bolted down the barriers.
“They say, ‘oh, no charge, just make me some breakfast’.
“Seeing the same people come by all the time, you start to miss them if you don’t see them.”
With Abba pushing 70-years-old, he said he hope Jay would one day take over the family business.
But Jay was not so sure.
“I don’t know if I can do the 4.30am wake up,” he said.
The Cross Snack Bar
20 White Rd, Gepps Cross
Sitting in the highly industrial area of Gepps Cross, the Cross Snack Bar is a favourite among tradies and truck drivers in the area for a quick and delicious feed.
Renee Mounzer and her husband have owned the business for seven years, which was also a snack bar for decades in the past.
Renee said her customers often say they are delighted to find a snack bar selling simple and tasty meals.
“We get told a lot that you can’t find this anywhere anymore,” she said.
“We do the double cut rolls which is a South Aussie icon and they love that.
“With Covid-19 business has been a lot quieter.
“We used to do a lot of catering for businesses around us and that’s totally dropped, no more meetings are being held.
Cafe Ritz – Mazis family
3/180 Gawler Pl, Adelaide
CBD snack bar Ritz Cafe is a well-oiled machine when it comes to serving tasty staples to hungry office workers near the Department of Education building.
However the multi-generational family business has not lost its connection to loyal customers which sets it apart from the myriad of franchises which surround it.
Tim Mazios said he grew up in the cafe his parents ran, serving customers after school, with his kids now joining in on the family tradition.
“I was in primary school when mum and dad took over, my kids are in primary school now and they’re running around here seeing some of the customers I used to serve after school,” Mr Mazios said.
“There’s not many owner-operator type businesses left in the city, ones which have been here for 30 years or more.”
With the classic snack bar salads display front and centre, the Ritz Cafe is often pumping at lunch times, but the owners are always more than happy to chat.
Jimbo’s Snack Bar – Lyn Masson
24 Kateena St, Regency Park
With 110 online reviews and a strong following, Jimbo’s Snack Bar might be the most well-known food spot on this list.
While the everyday punter mightn’t have heard of it, the Regency Park institution has serviced locals, tradies and the countless nearby factory workers for four decades.
Worker Lyn Masson has been part of it for 36 years.
Lyn said the famous food spot had only had two owners throughout the years.
Jimbo and his wife, who started the place, and the new owner Con and his brother.
Although “new” doesn’t quite describe it as Con has owned the place for more than a decade.
Despite the shop changing hands they never needed to change the name because Con’s brother’s name is Jim.
Jimbo’s remains an important part of the snack bar scene as one of the few shops still making the famous double-cut roll a staple of the menu.
Lyn said the rolls, and other items on the menu like caesar salad, steak sandwiches and hamburgers ensured the bills continued to be paid.
“I don’t think I’ve had any customers for all 36 years, but you’ll often see people who come back and say, ‘you’ve been here a long time’,” she said.
Opting for boutique coffee roastery Altura, which roasts in nearby Findon, makes Jimbo’s coffee a cut above.
Lyn said Covid closing the nearby factories and keeping parents at home with their kids had an impact on the store, but not enough to diminish the reputation of the famous foodary.
Royalty Snack Bar – Bill Basilios Rouneliotis
65 Angas St, Adelaide
Bill Basilios Roumeliotis has been in the Snack Bar game for over 30 years having owned and worked at Royalty Snack Bar in the city for 16 years and another CBD snack bar previously.
With freshly roasted coffee by Mr Roumeliotis himself, and an array of savoury staples, Royalty Snack Bar is an inviting and warm corner store where you can always count on a sandwich and yarn.
Adorned with vintage signage and nestled between bustling CBD offices, Mr Roumeliotis said he also gets a lot of lawyers, magistrates and police visiting his shop from the nearby courts.
“We’re a traditional coffee shop, we try to always provide quality products with fresh ingredients at a fair price, the cost of everything's gone through the roof now,” Mr Roumeliotis said.
Mr Roumeliotis said the snack bar has existed in the historic 1920s building for decades and he has never tried to detract from the history of the site.
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