The Downfall of Spanian’s Kebab: Franchise Insiders Reveal Warning Signs

YouTube star Spanian’s much-publicised kebab venture appears to be losing momentum, with industry insiders claiming the business has been reduced to two food trucks and one struggling store.

The latest sign came this week in Sydney’s fashionable Newtown, where the remaining traces of the brand’s distinctive logo were painted over as new operators moved in and removed any obvious link to Spanian.

According to information obtained by The Daily Mail, Spanian’s Kebabs has fallen from a peak of 10 sites to just three. The business had heavily promoted the Newtown venue, along with a second shop in Kogarah, in Sydney’s south.

Food industry suppliers claim the remaining outlets are trucks operating in Bowen Hills, Brisbane, and Preston, Melbourne, together with the Kogarah shop, which they describe as struggling.

Located beside the Woolworths entrance at Kogarah Town Centre and close to the railway station, Spanian’s Kebabs Kogarah opened in March with four employees. That workforce has reportedly since been reduced to one or two people.

The launch also left some fans disappointed after Spanian failed to attend in person, with a cartoon version of the tattooed social media personality appearing at the opening instead.

The outlet has reportedly scaled back orders of doner meat and bread, while queues of customers have disappeared. Franchisees have also acknowledged that the business is performing below expectations and could ultimately shut.

A similar pattern was reported at Spanian’s former Newtown store. Initially ordering large quantities of stock, the venue allegedly reduced its kebab skewer deliveries from 20 kilograms at a time to 10 kilograms, while daily orders fell from two or more to just one.

The Newtown shop takeover has been completed with remarkable speed, just nine months after Spanian, whose real name is Anthony Lees, presented the prominent corner site as evidence that his hospitality ambitions were succeeding.

Spanian, a former criminal who built an international audience through YouTube videos exploring notorious and crime-affected locations, promoted the venue as a major milestone in his transformation into a hospitality entrepreneur.

The Newtown shop followed the launch of his original food trucks, which operated across the NSW Central Coast as well as in Victoria and Queensland.

Franchise agreements reportedly cost between $250,000 and $350,000 plus GST, granting operators permission to use the Spanian’s Kebabs name for as long as seven years. The Newtown business, however, lasted only a fraction of that period.

The inner-west Sydney venue opened amid considerable publicity on one of the city’s busiest hospitality strips, but customer numbers reportedly declined after a series of harsh social media reviews about the food.

Spanian’s kebabs were marketed as distinctive because they were inspired by the food he encountered in Frankfurt, Germany.

Rather than using the thin flatbread commonly associated with kebabs, the business served its meat, fresh salad and signature sauces inside thicker bread rolls.

Some online reviews were particularly scathing, describing the kebabs as a “soggy, ranky mess” and calling them the “worst kebabs ever.”

One of the reviews said: ‘Got refused service yesterday at Gosford.’

Kristian Morris of Ray White Real Estate in Glebe, the real estate agent for the closed-down 159 King Street location, refused to comment on the financial details of that franchisee because they were ‘personal’.

However, a major supplier to the shop told the Daily Mail that its supplies payment arrangement had flipped from credit to ‘pro forma’.

This is an arrangement in which the franchisee must pay for the product before it is delivered instead of being indebted to the supplier.

Before it was abruptly shuttered early this month, it was making only small orders of the kebab ingredients as its custom petered out.

This week, the shop logo with its cartoon depiction of a tattooed Spanian holding a tray of kebabs had been obliterated.

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The shop’s new occupants were painting out the yellow interior to refit it for the opening in a few weeks’ time of a Little-L Burgers restaurant, a franchise which has outlets in Bondi, Manly and Maroubra with good reviews.

Mr Morris said the franchisee conceded that Spanian’s Kebabs had ‘probably not been right for Newtown’.

The premises, owned for 42 years by a Greek-Australian family company Moweno Pty Ltd, previously housed a longtime Turkish kebab operator before being renovated and refitted three years ago.

It reopened as Mr Potato, the Adelaide-based fast-food chain that began in 2018, expanded into the Gold Coast then Newtown in 2023, before going into liquidation in June last year.

Mr Potato’s spectacular collapse last year gave the Newtown shop address the reputation of being a ‘cursed corner’. 

Franchisees were left facing bankruptcy after the Australian Tax Office brought wind-up action over a $150,000 debt.

Mr Potato was wound up owing money to suppliers, staff and garbage collectors, with rubbish piling up outside the shop and teenage workers out of pocket.

Towards its end, ingredients for Mr Potato’s menu items were being bought from Woolworths via Uber Eats before it finally closed its doors.

Mr Morris said that while ‘Mr Potato didn’t go well’, there was currently a ‘perfect storm for the food and beverage industry’ with the costs of produce, electricity and wages through the roof. 

A food supplier to Spanian’s Kebabs told the Mail that it became obvious when an outlet was in the downward spiral because its supply orders shrivelled.

They said the Spanian brand had begun ‘with all good intentions but they struggle in the current conditions in Australia. It’s tough.’

When Spanian opened the Newtown store, he said: ‘Store number nine opening Newtown, store number ten opening soon Kogarah. It doesn’t stop.’

Franchisees are responsible for expenses including rent, supplies and ongoing staffing costs. 

Franchise fees alone could potentially have generated more than $1.5million for the Spanian empire.

Spanian’s Kebabs began as a food truck in Haberfield and still lists an outlet at East Gosford, although its Macarthur Square location near Campbelltown has since disappeared from the company’s website.

The Daily Mail has asked Spanian to confirm that the kebab business was down to just three locations. 

The rapid expansion of the kebab business coincides with a hectic few years for Spanian during which he split from his wife Angela McColl, started a new relationship with Ava Jean Walker, shredded kilos of weight and also underwent plastic surgery. 

On the street outside the Newtown shop this week, one harsh critic told the Mail its closure could be blamed on the fact Spanian ‘said some pretty poor things in the past and people remember that. So, he’s not welcome in Newtown.

‘It’s his image and his product as well, you know pretty average, especially the kebabs.’

But retail expert Barry Urquart said it was key that celebrities who have their own brand must align it ‘with their values, virtues and philosophies of the business’.

‘Influencers have got to recognise that they are the messenger, not the message,’ he said.

Whether or not the Newtown closure has caused Spanian’s financial pain is unclear. Either way, the shop is expected to reopen in early November as Little L Burgers.