Only eight months after opening, Spanian’s Kebabs appears to be facing an uphill battle at its Newtown restaurant on King Street, one of Sydney’s most competitive hospitality strips.
The venue was reportedly empty on Friday night, with no customers seen inside while nearby restaurants continued serving diners.
YouTuber Spanian, whose real name is Anthony Lees, launched the bricks-and-mortar outlet in January after building a substantial online following. Opening on Newtown’s notoriously demanding King Street was a major bet on his kebab brand.
At first, the move appeared to pay off. Large crowds filled the restaurant on its opening day, fuelling expectations that the business could become a major success.
That initial excitement, however, appears to have cooled. Reports suggest the store has struggled to attract customers during busy lunch periods and even on Friday evenings, despite neighbouring venues continuing to draw strong foot traffic.
The Newtown site also comes with a challenging history.
Mr Potato previously operated from the premises before collapsing dramatically last year. Before that, the shop remained vacant for three years, leading some hospitality operators to view the address as a difficult one to sustain a business in.
Questions about the future of Spanian’s Newtown restaurant have been compounded by a series of harsh customer reviews.
One customer wrote: ‘First time trying Spanian’s kebab and disappointed! Also, no one was even there on a Saturday night except for me ordering. Newtown was packed and not one single person was inside the shop!’
Images taken on Friday night appeared to show Spanian’s Kebabs’ Newtown outlet empty, with no customers inside
The restaurant attracted large crowds when it first opened
Another reviewer, who said they had travelled from New Zealand to try the food, was similarly unimpressed: ‘Flew in from New Zealand and have been wanting to try his kebabs for some time now. Was so disappointed in them. So bland, and the chicken was so dry. The chips weren’t even seasoned; they tasted like fries I bought from the supermarket and just air-fried myself… all in all, a bad experience and bad food.’
A third reviewer, claiming to work opposite the restaurant, questioned how the business remained viable. ‘I really don’t know how you’re not going broke from this shop, as it’s pretty much empty all the time,’ they wrote.
Any financial difficulties affecting individual locations may not necessarily have a direct impact on Spanian himself, however.
The business operates through a franchise structure, with franchisees reportedly paying between $250,000 and $350,000 plus GST for the right to use the Spanian’s Kebabs brand.
Franchise operators are also responsible for costs such as rent, wages and other ongoing staffing expenses.
With six Spanian’s Kebabs franchises in operation, franchise fees alone could potentially have brought in more than $1.5 million for the wider business.
The brand began as a food truck in Haberfield, in Sydney’s Inner West, before expanding rapidly into a franchise network across New South Wales and other states.
The company’s website currently lists outlets in Gosford, Kogarah, Newtown and Macarthur Square across NSW. Several food truck sites previously linked to the business no longer appear on the list.
Spanian has rejected claims that his kebab business is in financial trouble
Rejecting ‘conspiracy theories’ and suggestions that franchisees had been ‘scammed’ or that locations had shut due to a lack of customers, Spanian insisted the trucks were simply being relocated.
Lees said the Parramatta food truck’s lease had expired, prompting the operators to temporarily relocate to Strathfield before ultimately moving to Brisbane.
‘They’re trucks, they move. That’s why they’re trucks,’ he said.
‘The truck that was in Wyong is the truck in Gosford. The Gosford location is better, more central. They moved there. That’s their right. That’s why it’s a food truck. They move.
‘The truck that was in Wollongong is now getting built in Wollongong CBD on the main street. It’s probably our best store. They’ve been building it for two months. They’re very excited.
‘The Penrith location, the land they were on, the cafe next to it, they went bankrupt, so they lost their lease. So they’re finding a better location. Hopefully, it’s going to be in the Penrith Westfield next to the Oporto’s or Nando’s.’
Lees said the Smeaton Grange food truck was now operating at Macarthur Square Shopping Centre.
He also said Uber Eats orders were up and that three more stores were planned, including locations in Brisbane and Melbourne.
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Aussies have unleashed about the quality of Spanian Kebabs online
Retail expert Barry Urquhart said Spanian’s celebrity status and huge social media following were no guarantee of long-term success, arguing consumers were increasingly less reliant on influencer endorsements when deciding where to spend their money.
‘Recommendations, referrals and endorsements just simply aren’t cutting the mustard at the moment,’ he told the Daily Mail.
‘The presence and influence of influencers has fallen away appreciably.’
Mr Urquhart said Spanian’s popularity may have initially attracted curious customers, but celebrity alone was rarely enough to sustain a hospitality business.
‘There is always a fine line between arrogance and ignorance, and a lot of arrogant people are unknowingly ignorant of the realities of the market forces,’ he said.
‘Most entrepreneurs are terrible at administration. It’s got very little probability of success and sustained growth.’
While Spanian’s public profile resonated with some Australians as a lovable rogue figure in the mould of Ned Kelly or Crocodile Dundee, Mr Urquhart said the novelty appeared to have faded quickly.
‘He did have a profile that was kind of part of the Australian irreverence,’ he said.
The opening day of Spanian’s Kebabs in Kogarah was well attended but many have said once, never again would they eat his food
Spanian (pictured) was once Sydney’s poster boy for the working-class youth subculture known as eshays, recognised for their tracksuits, bum bags, street slang and tough image
‘We’ll give him an audience, and it tired very, very quickly.’
Mr Urquhart said the key to surviving beyond the initial burst of curiosity was converting first-time visitors into loyal customers who returned again and again.
‘A very fundamental tenet of successful business is: what is the lifetime value of the customer? It’s not the one purchase. It’s how often they come back,’ he said.
‘The most effective, cost-efficient way to get business is repeat business.
‘Have loyalty and have a preferred brand.’
He argued Spanian’s Kebabs had failed to establish a distinctive position in an already crowded fast-food market.
‘He hasn’t got a brand. He hasn’t got recognition. He’s got no market positioning that says he’s famous for it,’ Mr Urquhart said.
‘There seems to be no positioning or presence in the marketplace.
‘He’s just selling kebabs now, and not very good ones.’
Mr Urquhart said the reputation of the Newtown address could make the battle even harder.
‘It’s just toxic. If there is a reputation about a location, the probability of success for a business from that location is very, very marginal.
‘The reputation overwhelms the brand. That is figuratively the kiss of death.’
Spanian’s move into hospitality marked another chapter in a dramatic personal transformation.
The influencer-turned-entrepreneur was once Sydney’s poster boy for the working-class youth subculture known as eshays, recognised for tracksuits, bum bags, street slang and a tough image.
Now a businessman and entertainer, he has previous convictions for armed robbery, causing grievous bodily harm with intent and reckless wounding.
His most recent prison sentence was related to operating a criminal drug supply network. In total, he has spent more than 12 years behind bars.
Following his release from prison in 2017, Lees reinvented himself online, eventually launching the hugely successful YouTube series Into the Hood, in which he travels through some of Australia’s and the world’s most dangerous and crime-ridden neighbourhoods.