Frangos Petersham Charcoal Chicken has been in the heart of Sydney's Portuguese community - in the inner western suburb of Petersham for more than 25 years.
Jorge Amaro has been working at the shop for 10 years, and loves the hustle and bustle.
“It's that atmosphere, the pressure, the chicken, everything it's beautiful.”
The little space can get very busy and it attracts customers from all over.
On the other side of the city in Sydney’s Northwest, Luis Fernandes, son of the original owners, is overseeing Frangos’ flagship Bella Vista store.
“My parents are still involved, my mum basically still runs Petersham, and she helps with the other three locations.”
“Mum and dad were in and out of different jobs, looking for something different. Dad had some recipes from his mother, and he thought, ‘why don't we give this chicken thing a go?’”
“We opened the first store in Petersham in 1989. There was a slow reaction, but the word got around. We went from selling 10 chickens a day to 50 chickens a day and I guess the rest is history.”
Luis Fernandes, owner of Frangos. Source: SBS
Luis soon took over running the business - expanding its footprint.
Another location in Sydney's east - was opened then sold - in favour of the west, which Luis identified as having greater opportunity for growth.
“When we came to Bella Vista there were about 20,000 people in the business park. Now there are about 40,000 so it's doubled.”
There are now 3 stores in Sydney's west, in addition to Petersham, with family members and long-time trusted friends helping to run them.
Luis notes managing growth as the biggest challenge, and is happy with a steady-as-she-goes approach turning down franchise opportunities.
Another challenge was dealing with a fire that ripped through the Bella Vista store earlier this year.
“Mentally and emotionally it was difficult, because it was our signature store, and the biggest thing is that you have staff sitting at home, and you've got to move them to other stores because you want to look after them, you don't want to lose staff.”
“We pushed the other stores as much as we could while this one was closed but [we have] become a bit of a cult following, so when we were ready to open the store, we had like 50 or 60 people waiting outside on day one.”
So what makes Frango charcoal chicken so irresistible?
Their specially marinaded chicken is then cooked over a charcoal grill. Source: SBS
“It's the way we prepare the chicken, the way we marinate the chicken.”
“My grandparents migrated from Madeira Portugal to Angola Africa for ten years. My grandmother was an amazing cook she learnt a lot of recipes there, so the recipe came from that, my father then obviously passed it down to me.”
He says family is the key to Frangos’ success.
“I couldn't do what I'm doing without the support of my family. I think it's very important and it is a good base. One thing my parents taught me amongst other things was respect.”
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