When Chin Chin opened its doors in Melbourne in 2011, it quickly became one of the city’s hottest venues. Patrons queued every night of the week to enjoy its South-East Asian-inspired dishes and vibrant atmosphere, and in 2017 it opened an establishment in Sydney. The iconic restaurants remain as popular as ever.
Melbourne’s design, scale, energy, and food culture have been significantly elevated.
“Chin Chin was the original disruptor,” says its founder, Chris Lucas of Lucas Restaurants. “It changed the rhythm and feel of dining in Australia.”
Lucas set up his eponymous business after seeing a gap in the local market for high-energy, design-led venues that fused world-class food with atmosphere and edge. Chin Chin has won major industry awards, but Lucas remembers the grind of its early days fondly.
“It was chaos in the best way. No bookings, queues out the door… It flipped the model on its head. That first year taught us everything.”
Today, CommBank business customer Lucas Restaurants has 25 brands across 14 venues in Melbourne, Geelong, Sydney and Canberra, and it employs 1,500 people. The group is looking to significantly increase the size of its hospitality empire over the next five years.
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“We’re expanding across both Melbourne and Sydney, with Grill Americano Sydney opening later this year at Qantas House. We’re also exploring international opportunities,” Lucas reveals.
He adds “But growth for us has never been about volume. It’s about cultural impact. Every venue must elevate the standard and shift the conversation.”
Supporting the ambitions of operators is a key focus for the growth of Australia’s hospitality industry.
Evolution is key to success
Lucas understands that continuously evolving is essential to maintaining growth. He believes resting on one’s laurels can result in the loss of market share. This is especially true in a city like Melbourne, which he describes as the “most diverse, sophisticated and democratic food city in the world”.
“If you don’t evolve, you fall behind,” Lucas says. “Innovation, whether it’s technology, guest experience or bold new concepts, keeps the scene alive and moving forward.”
To many, Lucas Restaurants has helped to raise the bar across design, scale, energy and food culture in Melbourne. Its success has underpinned Melbourne’s emergence as a leader in the nation’s culinary scene.
The growth of Australia’s hospitality industry is a key focus for CommBank with specialised hospitality bankers supporting the ambitions of operators like Chris Lucas.
Avin Luther, head of industries and agriculture, institutional banking, CommBank, states,“The hospitality sector employs close to 1 million workers and is an integral part of the social fabric and economy of Australia.” Luther continues, “The sector is seeing a strong rebound this year, driven by a resurgence in tourism, lower inflation and interest rates and renewed investor confidence.”
Continued growth in Melbourne’s hospitality sector promises significant economic benefits for the CBD and metropolitan areas, stimulating job creation across ancillary industries such as food production and packaging. As an industry, hospitality is the seventh-largest employer in Australia, with almost 962,000 workers, while Victoria’s food and beverage manufacturing sector employs over 77,000 people and the state accounts for a quarter of Australia’s food and fibre exports.
Lucas Restaurants has embraced sustained innovation, with a stream of new ventures keeping patrons coming back and pop-ups of its famed establishments across Australia.
“There’s a reason there’s constantly a line and a booking process to get into their restaurants,” says Craig McQuillen, general manager, Major Client Group at CommBank.
“The wine lists and the quality of the food is spectacular, but it’s also because they’re always doing something new, which keeps them front of mind.”
Five years from now, Lucas sees Melbourne’s food and dining scene becoming even more creative and sophisticated.
“It will be more layered, more global and more guest focused,” he says.
“Melbourne will double down on originality and create experiences that aren’t borrowed from abroad. Dining will become even more integrated with art, fashion and technology. It will be about memory-making, not just meals. And Lucas Restaurants will be right at the centre of it.”
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