How chicken parmigianas keep Victorians fed and businesses in the red

They’re more than just a meal – the chicken parma pulls its weight in keeping working Aussies well fed and businesses in the red during difficult times.

They’re a classic Australian pub meal and a go-to lunch or evening feed at any venue worth its salt.

Chicken parmigianas feature on menus across the country, traditionally boasting crumbed chicken breasts beneath tomato sauce and melted cheese – and often with an additional ham topping.

But the humble parma does more than incite interstate conflict over proper pronunciation: it sustains the stomachs of working men and women and the small businesses trying to keep their heads above water feeding that demographic.

It’s all about providing “cheap, fast pub grub” rather than “expensive arty farty stuff,” Tayler McTigue of Geelong’s Yardz Hotel said.

The Yardz Hotel worker Charli with an Irish parmigiana special on St Patrick's Day.

The Yardz’s biggest day of the week in parmigiana terms is Sunday, when the venue makes up to 150 meals for lunch and similar numbers for dinner.

It's only on Sundays the kitchen is kept open the whole day, since roughly nine out of 10 customers ask for a parma.

“I think being a working man’s pub we get a lot of blokes in, so that’s why we often have the parmi of the month which will run on its own, and that’s fully loaded,” Ms McTigue said.

“It’s a big feed. They know they’re getting a big meal.

“The number one thing that the boss here, who’s Carol [McTigue], is very driven on and focused on is keeping prices down low.

“So she never ever wants to be known to be that pub that has prices increased or expensive food.

“I think we are one of the fortunate ones that we always have kept our head above water and I think it comes down to prices.”

An English-style parmigiana at The Yardz Hotel, Geelong.

Hundreds of kilometres north, the G & T Schnitzel Bar in Mildura even rebranded to a restaurant dedicated entirely to the popular chicken fare.

“We found pretty quickly around 2019 that everyone just wanted parmies so we pivoted into being a schnitzel bar and that went through the roof over Covid,” manager Travis Lindsay said.

“The reason we got through Covid was we went from doing maybe 25 to 30 meals a night to up to 100 a night pretty much as soon as Covid hit really.

“We do about 450 to 500 a week – that’s just the schnitzels, just the parmas. A really good week during summer we can get up to 600.

“You’ve got to keep it affordable, got to be reasonably priced, got to have quality product, and you’ve got to do it quickly.”

Mr Lindsay said the parmigiana demographic was a young to middle-aged crowd, particularly people who couldn’t afford a steak multiple times a week.

Victorians are venturing beyond the traditional parmigiana too, taking on iterations inspired by different cuisines.

Fat Chef head chef Sanjay Rai with the restaurant’s 1+ kg parma. Picture: Michael Klein

One popular non-standard variant at the Yardz is the English — stacked with mashed potato, bacon, cheese, and gravy, plus sides.

A parma of the month — at the moment a flaming meatball kind — is also given the pub test.

The G & T Schnitzel Bar trials new parmigianas each week and adds them to the permanent menu if they sell well.

For five years the traditional parma was the most popular, Mr Linday said, until three weeks ago when the bistro’s ‘Woodcutter’s Wife’ option — a schnitzel topped with creamy garlic sauce, spinach, bacon, mushroom, and parmesan — wrestled it from the top spot.

The menu also includes an HSP parma covered in brisket and sauce and a ‘King Avo’ containing BBQ sauce, bacon, and avocado.

Variety isn’t everything, however – some are just after the most bang for their buck.

Fat Chef in Coburg North sells about 300 parmas a week, according to head chef Sanjay Rai.

The business even offers a 1.1kg version for the very hungry.

“Everything is popular mate,” Mr Rai said.

“We just want to make the customer happy.”