Townsville Sizzler site flattened to make way for Taco Bell
Townsville’s Sizzler restaurant is no more, demolished to make way for another breed of fast food.
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TOWNSVILLE’s Sizzler restaurant is no more, demolished to make way for another breed of fast food — the Mexican-themed Taco Bell.
Sizzler traded in the city for 30 years in Currajong and was hugely popular with families for its affordable meals of steak or fish with self-serve salad and dessert.
But tastes change and the Townsville Sizzler, along with more than a dozen of the restaurants around Australia, have been closed by the listed Collins Foods group which operates the KFC chain here and around the world, as well as Taco Bell.
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Brisbane’s Synergy Property Partners, which bought the property containing Townsville’s Sizzler and Subway restaurants in 2017, are developing the new Taco Bell.
The Subway outlet is being retained.
According to a development application, the new Taco Bell food and drink outlet includes a 244sq m building and 26sq m of outdoor dining and seating.
A spokeswoman for Collins Foods said the new Taco Bell restaurant was expected to open later this year.
It will be the first Taco Bell in north Queensland.
“Taco Bell has set a new standard for quick service dining in Australia, with its epic fit-outs, open kitchens, customer-curated music playlists, free WI-FI, craft beers, frozen margaritas and regular live music sessions,” the spokeswoman said.
Sizzler has operated at Currajong since 1989.
The first Sizzler Restaurant opened in the United States in 1958.
Collins Foods International moved Sizzler into the Australian market in 1984 by acquiring Link Foods Pty Ltd, owners of the Bonanza and Taco Den restaurants.
The Bonanza restaurants were converted into Sizzler outlets.
The first conversion occurred at Annerley in Brisbane in 1985 and by 1986 Bonanza restaurants at Carindale and Aspley were also converted.
In its 2019 results, Collins said 12 Sizzler stores remained in Australia but that its Sizzler Asia division was growing with four restaurants opened during 2019.
Taco Bell also has a long history starting in California in 1962.
It says it is the world’s largest Mexican-inspired restaurant chain the globe, drawing in more than 2 billion customers each year to 7000 restaurants.
It specialises in tacos, burritos, and crunchwraps.
Collins Foods will open more than 50 new Taco Bells across Australia by 2022.
The first store opened in Annerley in 2017.
Southeast Queensland is the main target of the chain’s expansion but it has not ruled out crossing state borders over the next three years.
Originally published as Townsville Sizzler site flattened to make way for Taco Bell
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