El Jannah reveals ambitious plans to expand in Victoria in 2025

Fast food chicken chain El Jannah has ambitious plans to rule the roost of Australia’s cut-throat fast-food market — hatching several new stores as it prepares to take on Maccas for store domination.

El Jannah has ambitious plans to double its footprint, and reach one quarter of McDonald’s stores in 12 months.

Charcoal chicken chain El Jannah is taking over Australia’s cut-throat fast food market, with ambitious plans to rule the roost and challenge McDonald’s and KFC in the next five years.

And if you live in Melbourne’s inner west, you would have already heard the clucking.

A new Kensington outpost hatched this month, Braybrook landed this week, with more stores swooping into the city, regionally in Ballarat and AAMI Park early next year.

The Lebanese chicken shop, which launched in Sydney’s west 26 years ago, entered Melbourne’s fast-food world almost three years ago.

Already it holds dominance in the city’s north and west, with seven locations popping up in Campbellfield, Broadmeadows and Preston since 2022.

The fast-food store specialises in chargrilled chicken.

The brand then flocked to the outer east, including Bayswater, Ferntree Gully and Pakenham, with El Jannah’s first ever city stores and regional locations coming to Ballarat, Geelong and Corio in the New Year.

More than 14 stores are already planned for 2025 — aligning with chief executive Brett Houldin’s ambitious goal of doubling the brand’s footprint next year.

“McDonald’s has 250 restaurants in Victoria, which we would love in the next three to four years,” he said.

“We’re still growing aggressively and about to go into the city, which should open by April or May.”

And from Monday, El Jannah will debut a breakfast line to go toe-to-toe with Australia’s “big two” fast food giants — which are McDonalds and KFC (YouGov Australia QSR Rankings 2024). KFC and Red Rooster are Australia’s top two chicken fast food brands.

Yet Houldin isn’t being cocky about the brand’s vision.

“I’m confident, 100 per cent, we’ll stick around,” he told the Herald Sun.

“While I have been at El Jannah for five years, this brand has had a cult-like following for 26 years and the founders have been honing their craft for a quarter of a century.”

El Jannah chief executive Brett Houldin has grand plans for the brand.

2024 hasn’t been the best year for food businesses and hospitality in Australia.

Swathes of iconic Melbourne and Victorian restaurants have closed their doors for good due to sky-high overheads and cost of living pressures, with the fast food sector not exempt.

Burger chain Carl’s Jnr stratospheric rise came to a crashing halt in August when QSR Group, the master franchisee of Carl’s Jr in Australia, entered voluntary administration.

Multiple stores across Victoria, including Melton, Thomastown, Docklands, Knox, Craigieburn, Shepparton, Wodonga, Ballarat and Tarneit were impacted.

But Houldin has worked in the fast-food chicken game for more than a decade; at Craveable Brands which has Red Rooster (Australia’s second-largest fast food chicken brand), Oporto, Chicken Treat and Chargrill Charlies under its wing.

He understands how fickle the fast-food game can be, and believes El Jannah’s unique Lebanese flavours will be its point of difference to aid its longevity.

He even moved a few El Jannah’s into old Carl’s Jnr stores.

“We’re selling 100,000 chickens a week,” he said.

“The key reason why we will be successful is because our palates have changed in Australia in the last 20 years. More people are coming from overseas and have great access to more flavours. People are more open minded.”

Unlike other chicken outlets, such as KFC, Red Rooster, Oporto or Nandos, El Jannah channels the Middle East in its food offering — a cuisine that remains largely untapped in Australia’s fast-food circles.

The chicken is marinated in Lebanese spices for 24 hours in a unique off-site kitchen, before being shipped to El Jannah outlets and cooked over charcoal.

Diners can enjoy the meat in a burger, alongside tabouli salad, pickles or swaddled in flatbread with toum (garlic sauce).

In some New South Wales stores, chicken shawarma is even carved from the spit.

“You do need a differentiation,” Houldin said.

“The difference with us is we cook over charcoal, and have a unique flavour around the protein itself and we accompany that with garlic sauce, Lebanese bread, salads and really focus on the shared meal occasion.”

El Jannah has versatility — with both fried and grilled chicken.

Houldin says the continued involvement of founders Andre and Carole Estephan, who gave Sydney’s west a taste of Lebanese home cooking in 1998, made a big difference to the brand.

“We really want to maintain the principles that have been there since the beginning,” Houldin said.

“Our founders are active players in the way they run the business. They built our supply-chain model and maintain consistency and freshness in all we do,” he said.

So what does the future hold for El Jannah in Melbourne, if not, Australia?

El Jannah is releasing a new breakfast menu.

“We want to continue to be in more markets,” he said.

“In the next five years, we’d like to see Victoria at 50 restaurants — which is a quarter of McDonald’s Victorian stores. It’s a great benchmark.”

“We will be half of that by the middle of next year, so we may well surpass that.”

“Plus we want to be the most consumed (fast food) and most loved.”

And judging by how busy the drive-through and carparks of some stores on a Friday night, El Jannah is well on its way.

Originally published as El Jannah reveals ambitious plans to expand in Victoria in 2025