KC Dry Cleaning founder Karl Chehade farewelled at funeral

Karl Chehade’s rags to riches journey has been remembered as a picture of the Australian dream after his death aged 91.

South Australian entrepreneur Khalil “Karl” Chehade started his business career with a horse and cart – and ended it with one of the state’s most recognisable brands flying his name.

Since the age of six, Adelaide’s dry cleaning king had to “work for every penny” his son told mourners at his funeral, after Chehade’s death last Friday aged 91.

According to the younger Karl, his father would cart the family’s produce – apples, pears, cherries – every week from a Lebanese village called Aintourine to nearby Tripoli, more than 30km away across the mountains.

South Australian businessman Karl Chehade passed away on 27 September 2024. Picture: Supplied by family

Karl Chehade (right) with his son, also named Karl, outside their drive-through store at Norwood. Picture: KC Dry Cleaning. Picture: KC Dry Cleaning

Chehade then immigrated to Australia in 1951, aged just 17, to send back enough money for a family truck – and decided to stay after cracking into the dry cleaning business a few years later.

“Dad’s life was busy – if he wasn’t at home with his family, he was at work,” his son told the few hundred assembled at St Igantius’ Church, Norwood.

Mellick, Mark and Karl Jr Chehade helping carry the coffin. Picture: Matt Loxton

Chehade’s grandsons farewelling their ‘jidou’ at the hearse. Picture: Matt Loxton

The “great man of faith” was farewelled in a traditional Maronite Catholic funeral on Friday afternoon, and his South Australian shops were closed so that staff could attend.

From a single store in 1957, KC Dry Cleaning and its ubiquitous yellow shopfronts grew to 13 stores statewide and several more in Queensland and Victoria.

Karl Chehade junior reflected that if a man of his father’s prospects tried to immigrate to Australia today, “he would have been refused entry”.

“He didn’t speak English, he didn’t have any formal education, he didn’t have money, and the only king he would have pledged allegiance to was Christ,” Chehade junior said.

“Once upon a time, Australia saw the value of those unskilled, peasant, illiterate migrants because it’s on their backs on which we stand tall today.

“He was a true egalitarian that judged everyone based on their character.”

Chehade handed the reins of the family business to his son in 1994, spending much of his retirement years tending to his olive farm.

Along the way, he was involved in the United Australian Lebanese Movement and owned the ritzy Pulteney St restaurant Mignon.

But according to his son, he never took any of his successes for granted and regularly sent money to family in Lebanon – more than enough to buy a truck.

“He had an abundance mindset … He believed there was plenty to go around, so make sure that you leave enough for others.”

Chehade is survived by wife Delele and children Karl, Mark, Mellick and Gabrielle, while son Pierre passed away in April.