Chicken Gourmet opens in Crace after closing iconic Civic shop in 2017

Gerry Francesco has reopened Chicken Gourmet after a five-year hiatus, bringing back has all the original fried chicken and gravy recipes with new pizzas, including meatlovers and chilli prawn.

Mr Sanfrancesco chose to reopen the business in Crace because he already had been there since 2014, up until the pandemic hit.

"We never really opened it again after COVID, we were short-staffed. But we've been up and running again since last Thursday and it's been a good response," he said.

The Chicken Gourmet owner prides himself on serving fresh and non-greasy fried chicken. Since officially opening a week ago on July 6, customers have been ringing Mr Sanfrancesco saying they remember him and his food very well.

He wants to start opening smaller shops in suburbs like Mitchell and Fyshwick in the future.

He said the store wouldn't be bigger than 30 square metres due to exorbitant overhead expenses.

Mr Sanfrancesco closed the Chicken Gourmet in Civic in 2017 after a 24-hour McDonald's opened across the road and "killed" his late-night trade.

Up until then, the shop had been feeding late-night partygoers since the 70s.

"Doesn't matter what kind of brand you've got, you can't compete with the big multinational chains," Mr Sanfrancesco said.

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"The younger generation is used to McDonald's and has been brought up with it.

"The older generation will still know us and support us."

He's found that having his business away from the city centre has helped a lot.

"You're not competing with major chains and I think that makes it a little bit different, that's why I'm looking at areas like Fyshwick and Kingston which I reckon would go well. Civic was way too big," Mr Sanfrnesco said.

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