Longtime friends take to court to resolve chicken shop feud in Sydney’s west

A dramatic two-year legal battle between friends over the ownership of a Sydney chicken shop resulted in a broken lock and police being called.

A Sydney charcoal chicken shop was “brazenly” repossessed from a friend by its former owner after he accepted $100,000 for its sale, a judge has found.

A dramatic disagreement between the pair led to the former owner forcibly taking possession back despite already accepting money and having signed a heads of agreement.

Simon Munzer opened Mt Druitt’s Paradise Charcoal Chicken in Sydney’s west in 2008, and went on to establish further shops in the Western Sydney suburbs of Eastern Creek, St Clair and Marsden Park.

The shop was repossessed by the original owner after selling it for $100,000 in dramatic scenes that saw police attend the premises. Image: Google

Mr Munzer sold the Mt Druitt shop to his longtime friend Fouad (Frank) Bachour in August 2022.

After initially offering to sell the Mt Druitt branch of the shop to the store’s manager for $100,000, Mr Munzer then requested a loan of the same amount from Mr Bachour, who was the store’s bookkeeper.

Mr Bachour declined, but offered to buy the business for that amount. The two dispute the exact nature of the verbal agreement, but they began the process of transferring the shop’s lease and formalising its sale.

After doing stocktake, Mr Bachour transferred $100,000 to Mr Munzer for the shop and $7,514.76 for stock. He soon began paying suppliers and wages.

Mr Munzer and Mr Bachour were subsequently in contact with delivery agencies, the landlord and an EFTPOS provider to action the change in ownership. The pair signed a seven-page written heads of agreement on the sale in September 2022.

After further discussion for a formal sale of business agreement, Mr Munzer’s solicitor sent an email saying that he now understood the men would be entering a sublease agreement, as “my client doesn’t want to sell the business.”

Justice Kelly Rees found ‘Mr Munzer changed his mind and brazenly re-took possession of the Mt Druitt shop’. Picture: NewsWire / Bianca De Marchi

On 22 October 2022, Mr Munzer said that he had changed his mind and did not want to sell the business.

He tried to enter into a fresh agreement with another interested party who wanted to take a five-year sublease of the premises instead, as he didn’t “want to lose the business for good.” Mr Bachour protested this, saying it was not his business to sell anymore.

Mr Munzer told Mr Bachour “I only sold it to you because I needed the cash for my house”.

“I want the business back, and then I intend to licence it out for five years only. Are you willing to sell it back from you?”

Mr Bachour refused, but a message was sent to the landlord from the shop’s shared email address to “disregard the lease transfer”.

Nine days later on 31 October, Mr Bachour didn’t open the shop in the morning due to staff shortages. After receiving a text from his son that the business was open, he called the police saying that someone had broken in.

Attending the business, Mr Bachour found employees behind the counter running the business. They told him Mr Munzer had opened the shop for them.

When police and Mr Munzer arrived, he said “I have reflected on things further and I’m just not willing to let the business go. I built it up over years and it’s mine. I’ve decided to cancel the sale.” No arrests were made or charges were laid.

After closing the shop for the day, Mr Bachour placed a chain and lock over the door. The next morning, he found them broken on the floor.

Mr Barchour found a chain and lock broken outside the restaurant the day after Mr Munzer took back possession of the store. Image: Google

Mr Munzer engaged a security company to keep Mr Bachour out of the shop, and operated it as his own for the following two years while Mr Bachour commenced legal action.

Mr Munzer’s defence argued that he relied on Mr Bachour to help him make business decisions and for translation, as English is not his first language.

They claimed that Mr Munzer incorrectly believed the document was to license the business for five years rather than to sell it, and that he was only provided the last page of the agreement. Each of these defences failed.

Justice Kelly Rees was “satisfied that Mr Bachour and Mr Munzer reached an oral agreement in the terms described by Mr Bachour,” as outlined in the heads of agreement.

Before further documents for sale could be executed, “Mr Munzer changed his mind and brazenly re-took possession of the Mt Druitt shop,” Justice Rees said in her decision.

Justice Rees found that the original agreement to sell the shop was valid, and ordered Munzer to follow its terms.

A referee is to determine the terms of the damages paid to Mr Bachour given his inability to operate the business since 31 October 2022, the amount to be reported to the court by March 14, 2025.

Originally published as Longtime friends take to court to resolve chicken shop feud in Sydney’s west