From Wendy’s to Wingstop: Why some food chains thrive Down Under, and others fizzle
Wendy’s, Wingstop and Chuck E Cheese have all opened in Australia in recent months, with other popular US fast-food restaurants, such as Popeyes, eyeing potential locations here.
But for every successful venture that comes Down Under, there is an equal number that fail to take off on our shores, and others that initially falter, only to thrive later.
Major fast food chains keep opening Down Under – so why do some flourish while others fizzle? Tara Blancato
Wendy’s has opened two stores in its second attempt to crack the Australian market, with plans to roll out 200 by 2034. If it survives after a previous failed venture in Australia, it will join the likes of Taco Bell, Starbucks and Krispy Kreme, all of which got a second chance at success on our shores, with varying results.
US chain Wingstop, which has 300 restaurants worldwide and is primarily known for its buffalo wings, jetted into Australia in 2025 with a flagship store in Sydney’s Potts Point and has since opened in Penrith.
It was brought to Australia by Canadian-based JPK Capital, the master franchisee of Wings Australia Investment Holdings, and plans to open 100 restaurants here by 2035.
Chuck E Cheese is also said to be looking for more locations for its family-focused outlets that combine a restaurant with indoor play and amusement arcade games after master franchisee Royale Hospitality Group opened the first Aussie outlet in Perth in 2025.
Meanwhile, Wendy’s, which tried and failed in the Aussie market four decades ago, opened a flagship store on the Gold Coast in January 2025, and a second in Brisbane in October as part of plans to open 200 stores across Australia by 2034.
So with so much competition in an already crowded fast food market, why is it that some ventures fail and others survive?
The ‘secret sauce’
Dee Madigan, founder and creative director of advertising and marketing agency Campaign Edge and a regular TV panelist, said Australia’s “genuinely good food culture” means we are not immediately grateful for any international chain that show up on our shores.
Dee Madigan says not all US food franchises will survive here. Supplied
“Australians are less brand-loyal and more quality-discerning than US consumers, particularly around coffee and fresh food,” she said.
“If your product is mediocre, but your brand is big, that’s enough in a lot of US markets. It’s not enough here.
“So the ones that fail tend to be the ones that assume the American playbook will work here without adaptation.
“The chains that succeed here do one of two things: they either offer something we genuinely don’t have a local equivalent for, or they adapt to Australian tastes and expectations.”
Professor Ellen Garbarino, a Professor of Marketing at the University of Sydney’s Business School, said Wendy’s, Wingstop and Chuck E Cheese were all ‘risky’ ventures and had their work cut out for them in building brand awareness in Australia.
Wingstop is hoping to saturate the Aussie market. Wingstop
“All three are known in the US but do not have particularly high international profiles,” she said.
“If you interviewed a random 100 Australians, most would not know any of these businesses. They are still not well known from an international point of view.
“I think they are going to have to do a lot of media to get their awareness up.”
Of the new players in the Aussie market, Madigan believes Wingstop has the best chance of success.
“I might be biased because I love hot wings, but I reckon Wingstop has a genuine shot. Wings are having a cultural moment, and they’ve got strong social media DNA from the US. The format is simple and scalable.”
She could also see Popeyes doing well here.
“Fried chicken is already proven in this market through KFC, and Popeyes has genuine product differentiation with the Cajun positioning,” she said.
“If they launch smart and don’t over-expand, they could do well. The chicken sandwich wars gave them enormous brand awareness before they even arrive.”
When it doesn’t land
On the other side of the coin is Taco Bell, which has had a tough time cracking the Australian market after two failed attempts.
“I think [there’s] a couple of reasons,” Garbarino said of the brand’s difficulties in this market.
“Australia is not particularly familiar with Mexican food [compared with] Asian foods. Also, it’s mediocre food. I think the local places like Guzman y Gomez have done a strong job in having a better taste profile.
Taco Bill has struggled to crack the Australian market. Jon Reid
“You have Zambrero that positioned themselves as a healthy Mexican choice. They were already established, and [Taco Bell’s] not really cheap. That was its niche in the US. I do not think they have the positioning here.”
Madigan said while Mexican food had grown in popularity here, time will tell if Taco Bell can “stay culturally relevant beyond the initial novelty”.
As for Wendy’s, she said its previous venture failed “because it had no clear point of difference in the Australian market”.
“Square burgers isn’t a brand proposition, it’s a shape. They didn’t give Australians a reason to care,” she said.
This time around, Wendy’s customised its menu for the Aussie market.
Second time’s the charm
Both Madigan and Garbarino were impressed by how other US conglomerates, such as Starbucks and Krispy Kreme, carved out a niche here despite previous failures.
Starbucks first came to Australia in 2000 with a store in Sydney’s Hyde Park, followed by a rapid expansion to 87 stores by 2008.
The last Wendy's Aussie venture failed because it had "no clear point of difference" in our market. Wendy's
However, it failed to take off until 2014, when new management shifted the focus to targeted locations frequented by tourists and international students, and reworked the menu.
Similarly, Krispy Kreme arrived in 2003 with a store in Sydney’s Penrith, which opened to much hype and good sales. They expanded to 54 stores, before the business went into voluntary administration in 2010.
A successful restructure and new business model saw Krispy Kreme focus on wholesale distribution via 7-Eleven stores, with premises only in key locations such as airports.
Madigan said the company’s initial failure was a classic case of overexpansion.
“They saturated the market too quickly and the novelty wore off. The relaunch has been more disciplined, and they benefit now from a generation that treats food as content,” she said.
Krispy Kreme flourished, thanks to a restructure and new business model. Krispy Kreme
Garbarino said building a profile among international visitors was a clever way for each to enter the Australian market, while Krispy Kreme’s decision to go into petrol stations was ‘genius’.
“When you are buying your fuel you are not thinking, ‘What healthy food choice can I make here?’ It’s self-indulgent food. You are thinking, ‘I need a reward’ and doughnuts provide that.”
No true coffee lover drinks Starbucks. They’re actually selling the cup, the customisation, the Instagram moment.
She said their decision to now expand into premises was risky but understandable, given they had saturated the market at petrol stations and supermarkets.
“I think they are taking a risk, but they probably felt like they had done what they could do,” she said, adding she would rather see them go into areas with more foot traffic, such as outside train stations.
Madigan said Starbucks was “the most interesting case study”.
“They failed initially because they tried to compete on coffee in a country with arguably the best café culture in the world. That was arrogant,” she said.
“Their comeback has been smarter. They’ve repositioned away from coffee purists and towards the experience economy.”
Madigan said while “no true coffee lover drinks Starbucks”, that isn’t their target market.
“They’re actually selling the cup, the customisation, the Instagram moment. They’re not really competing with your local café any more. They’re competing with bubble tea shops and dessert bars.”
Starbucks mounted a successful comeback in Australia. Starbucks Australia
One thing the best performing brands have in common is a strong social media presence, especially when it comes to reaching young consumers.
“For Gen Z especially, eating somewhere isn’t just consumption, it’s identity performance,” Madigan said.
“This is the single biggest shift in how food brands succeed or fail now. A Starbucks cup with your name on it is a piece of personal content. A Krispy Kreme doughnut is visually designed to be filmed.
“These brands understand that every customer is a potential broadcaster. TikTok has created a discovery engine for food brands that didn’t exist even five years ago.
“A single viral video can do what a million-dollar ad campaign used to do. So yes, brands that are ‘TikTok-native’ in their product design and experience design have an enormous advantage.”
The homegrown heroes
Then there are the Aussie success stories, such as Betty’s Burgers and the aforementioned Guzman y Gomez.
Betty’s Burgers started out as a burger joint in Noosa Heads, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast in 2014.
Owners David Hales, Nik Rollison and Michael Tripp expanded the business before selling to Retail Zoo, owner of Boost Juice, in 2017 for an undisclosed sum. There are now more than 70 Betty’s Burgers across Australia.
Garbarino said while it was easy to look at Betty’s Burgers and think the original owners could have expanded the business themselves, a nationwide expansion took a lot of know-how and money, and subsequently risk.
Betty's Burgers is one of the Aussie fast food success stories. Steven Siewert
She said the deep pockets of a corporate backer was often needed to take a business to the next stage of expansion.
“You really need a corporate plan and a strong knowledge of other markets,” she said.
“Just because you know Queensland does not mean you know Melbourne or Sydney, and you need to be able to invest a lot of money by having people in those areas before they even open.”
Guzman y Gomez has also taken off, though its US expansion failed. Bloomberg via Getty Images
While Garbarino said franchising was a way to grow a business rapidly without as much cost, it came with downsides.
This was evident in the differing fortunes of two of the best-known frozen yoghurt chains in Australia.
Yogurberry launched in South Korea in 2004 and expanded internationally to 25 countries.
After pioneering the self-serve frozen yoghurt model in Australia in 2012, it expanded rapidly before running into problems including workplace breaches by the master franchiser, unsubstantiated health claims and poor reviews. There are now about 20 stores in Australia, down by about half, all of which are franchises.
Yo-Chi is an Aussie success story. Yo-Chi
Meanwhile, Yo-Chi was founded in Melbourne in 2012 by toy maker Manny Stul and his stepson Paul Solomon before they sold the business to George Calombaris’ Made Establishment in 2018.
After that business collapsed, the sons of Boost Juice founder Janine Allis snapped up the four remaining stores in 2020.
With Riley and Oliver Allis at the helm, they have built an empire of 56 stores, all of which are company operated.
