Hog’s Breath halts rollout of Funky Mexican Cantina and bar Nineteen89 franchises

A fledgling Mexican restaurant chain and a bar franchise connected to the embattled Hog’s Breath group have stalled, and the bar owners told to “debadge”.

Two breakout franchises linked to the embattled Hog’s Breath brand have stalled with the rollout of one brand ending at four outlets while owners of the other have been ordered to “debadge”.

The directors of Hog’s Breath Cafe Pty Ltd, Ross Worth and Brett Dryland started Funky Mexican Cantina in 2013 and are also behind bar Nineteen89, which has an outlet at Cleveland and at Rockingham, WA.

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At its peak there were four Funky Mexican Cantina restaurants and several “ghost” kitchens across Australia including the flagship diner at Cleveland which remains open.

The Funky Mexican Cantina at Raby Bay is situated right next to a Hog's Australia Steakhouse that both provide diners with views of the water. Pic: Darren Cartwright

However, the Funky Mexican Cantina at Secret Harbour, some 50km south of Perth, shut last week.

A source told The Courier-Mail two more Perth restaurants, at Waneroo and Mandurah were struggling to make a profit.

One email exchange seen by The Courier-Mail suggested Monday would be the last day of trade for the Funky’s kitchen at Wanneroo.

The owners of the Tex-Mex restaurants at Wanneroo and Mandurah declined to take calls from The Courier-Mail.

“The menu was never set up right and were all wrong,” said a former employee.

Hog’s Breath Café ceo Mr Worth said they were no plans to expand the Funky Mexican Cantina brand.

He said there may have been about a dozen outlets on the website but that was because Hog’s Australia’s Steakhouse restaurants doubled as Tex-Mex takeaway kitchens under the Funky’s brand as part of a take away trial.

“There have only ever been four Funky Mexican Cantina restaurants (three in WA and one in Qld), however we trialled a ‘ghost kitchen’ concept for Funky’s at some of our Hog’s locations for delivery purposes only,” Mr Worth said.

“This was always only a trial concept.

“There are no plans to open any more Funky restaurants as our focus is on our Hog’s restaurants in the year of our 30th birthday.”

Hog's Breath Cafe ceo Ross Worth said there were no plans to expand the Funky Mexican Cantina brand and their focus was on celebrating Hog’s Australia Steakhouse’s 30th anniversary. Pic Annette Dew

The website for Funky Mexican Cantina stated that it was set up off the back of Hog’s Breaths’ 24 years of casual dining experience.

The owners of two of the Perth Tex-Mex stores were also Hog’s Australia’s Steakhouse franchisees.

At least one of them was behind the Hog’s Express fast food outlet at Mandurah Forum shopping centre, about 70km south of Perth, which folded within 12 months.

A Hog’s Express was also opened in the Myer Centre but has since closed and relocated to Burpengary.

There have been at least eight Hog’s Breath restaurants close nationally over the past six months including Coolangatta and Indooroopilly.

Owners of bar Ninteen89 have been told to rename. The first bar opened last year although an application to trademark the name in Australia was only lodged in February, just a couple of months before the order to "debadge". Pic: Darren Cartwright

The other franchise connected to Hog’s Australia’s Steakhouse was bar Nineteen89 which is also the same year that the first Hog’s restaurant opened in Airlie Beach, Queensland.

An advertisement, that was placed last year, for a general manager for Nineteen89 at Raby Bar Marina proudly gloated that it was “owned by the famous Hog’s Australia Steakhouse group”.

Mr Worth did not respond directly as to why the owners were ordered to “debadge” however he said it was a mutually agreed decision and for the betterment of the brand.

When The Courier-Mail visited the Raby Bay outlet this week, there was no sign that the venue was in the process of being re-named.

“The first Bar Nineteen89 opened in early 2018, and a second bar opened early 2019. Since then, the decision has been made to rename both of these bars,” he said

“This decision was well received and supported by the franchisee, and both locations will run independently moving forward.”

Despite being open for more than 12 months, a trademark for the brand was only lodged in February and it was by H B Investments which is under the directorship of Hog’s Breath’s original owner Don Algie and Ginger White.

Iconic Airlie Beach restauranter Don Algie, who founded the Hog’s Breath chain, is a director of company which lodged a trademark for bar Nineteen89 in February. Pic: Supplied

Mr Worth said the Hog’s Breath brand still had currency, and the phenomenon of franchisees closing or doing it tough was not unique to the chain.

“We may be accused of making excuses, but the reality is that business is challenging, there are more food options out there and consumer dining habits have changed,” he said.

“These changes impact our brand and our franchisees’ businesses.

“Your newspaper alone has reported dozens of Queensland restaurant closures in just a few months, not least of which was the $10 million Mercado development on the weekend, after just six months of trading.

“We’ve been striving to adapt to changing customer, industry and culinary trends as well as introduce new initiatives and menus to ensure a prosperous future for our brand and franchisees.”