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Going Greek with Souvlakihut

Sarah Stowe

A relatively young franchise opportunity, Souvlakihut has grown significantly around its core Melbourne base. The brand will continue to expand aggressively in 2010 with the emphasis on the eastern suburbs of Melbourne and regional Victoria but the biggest growth will come from Queensland, the brothers leading the franchise system believe.

John and Bill Fotiadis say they have found the level of interest in the brand in Queensland quite phenomenal.

“The NSW and Canberra markets are also starting to embrace the brand. Based on the level of inquiries and interest Australia-wide, we anticipate to meet our estimated store growth figures by the start of 2010.”

The brand has been franchising since 2005, has 31 franchisees and expects to reach 36 by the start of 2010.

“We have three levels of sites: larger sites (at least 200 square metres) in high traffic suburban areas; 130 to 180 square metre sites with low to medium traffic in outer and inner suburban areas; and takeaway franchises (70 to 120 square metres), with high pedestrian traffic but limited or no car accessibility.

“In Victoria we have focused our expansion within the outer suburbs, as this is where our core demographic of mums and families reside. However, our CBD and Melbourne University locations have worked well to capture the young professional and student customers. In Queensland we decided to hit the Gold Coast first but plans for the next 12 months are to further establish our presence in Brisbane and Far North Queensland.”

Franchise detail

So just who is the typical customer? “Our core target audience is families; mums are the key decision makers and purchasers. The majority of our stores cater for affordable family sit-down dining but we do have city centre and university stores that appeal to a Ôgrab and goÕ market.”

With an average customer spend of $15 there are also opportunities to upsell. “We have full meal combos for less than $10, which include a souvlaki, chips and a drink. When buying a souvlaki, our customers have the option to upgrade to a combo for an extra $3.50. We also have cost effective family platters, which include the lamb, chicken, salad, dips and chips for less than $50.”

In Victoria and NSW, most stores are open from 11am until just after 9pm. In Queensland Souvlakihut found breakfast trade to be extremely popular due to the better weather conditions, so stores there open much earlier, from around 7am.

Franchises can be run by a manager however all Souvlakihut franchisees must work in the business for at least 12 months so that they can fully understand the operations and background of running a store.

What is the marketing focus for 2010? “During 2009 the focus was very much on value; our focus for 2010 is more towards developing our local community relationships for our stores and ensuring that we are engaging with the community and giving something back.”

How many staff are required to run a franchise? From four to 15 staff at any one shift.

What has been the sales growth store-on-store for the financial year 2008-2009? Sales growth has been 8.72 per cent.

What is the brand’s USP? An affordable, family-oriented casual dining experience.

What is the signature dish? Our standard Greek souvlaki – it comes with chips just like they do in Greece.