Cairns Oporto and Guzman y Gomez location revealed: Earlville restaurant developments

A Cairns suburb is about to get a double whammy of fresh fast food goodness with two big bopper franchises making their foray into the city.

A Cairns suburb is about to get a double whammy of fresh fast food goodness with two big bopper franchises making their foray into the city.

Guzman y Gomez issued a call last month for budding entrepreneurs to launch the Mexican takeaway chain’s first Cairns outlet.

The location has remained a mystery until now.

Stockland Cairns Shopping Centre in Earlville has lodged a development application to build the dine-in and drive-through restaurant in what is currently home to Westpac, NAB and RACQ banks – and it will have a friend.

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Documents submitted to the council reveal Portuguese-style chicken and burger joint Oporto will move in next door, adding to the Australian chain’s only other spot in the city at Cairns Airport.

The existing buildings will be demolished with the banks shifted into tenancies within the main shopping centre.

Both chains have had meteoric rises in recent years with Guzman y Gomez going from a single start-up store in Sydney in 2006 to a global business worth almost a billion dollars.

The company had been set to go public with a listing on the ASX but plans changed after it received a $95.4 million investment from Magellan Financial Group in December.

It afforded Magellan, which also has stakes in McDonald’s, Starbucks and Yum Brands – which owns Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell in the United States – an 11 per cent stake in Guzman y Gomez.

Oporto is set to open at Stockland Cairns Shopping Centre in Earlville.

The company has 135 stores in Australia, 12 in Singapore, four in Japan and one in the US.

Oporto now has more than 100 stores in Australia and New Zealand – a drastic change since founder Antonio Cerqueira opened his first shop in North Bondi in 1986.

Originally published as Cairns Oporto and Guzman y Gomez location revealed: Earlville restaurant developments