George Calombaris is taking on a new challenge, two to be precise – this time in New South Wales.
The Greek Cypriot Masterchef judge has decided to venture into the Sydney market following the success of his now 14 Melbourne establishments under the Press Club, Hellenic Republic, Gazi and Jimmy Grants brand names.
With two Jimmy Grants souvlaki joints already in Westfield and Newtown, Calombaris has his eye set on Bondi Junction where he chose to launch a hybrid eatery, combining the souva with frozen yoghurt.
The celebrity chef’s mother company Made Establishment Group, acquired the popular frozen yoghurt chain Yo-Chi last February; joining the two businesses has been on Calombaris’ mind since the acquisition.
“It probably is and will be our biggest challenge,” he told Broadsheet, however he believes that the souvlaki and frozen yoghurt partnership is a natural step for the business in Bondi Junction given that both staples are super popular and Greeks happen to be the main consumers, especially when it comes to Greek yoghurt.
“They’re different cities. People go on about that whole Sydney/Melbourne rubbish – I don’t buy into it. I buy into the fact they’re both wonderful and they’ve both got their own beauties.
“It’s a different market up here; they know what a kebab is up here, 100 per cent, but they don’t know what a souva is. That’s what we’ve learned quickly.”
Acquiring Yo-Chi and taking both the Jimmy Grants and Yo-Chi brand names into Sydney comes after a hard financial year for Calombaris, a year that also saw the famous chef’s company receive waves of negative publicity. After back-paying 160 Made Establishment employees a good $2.6 million in under-paid wages last year, he was faced with an assault conviction following a footie match.
“We owned up to our own mistakes, we stood by them. We could have run away … but it’s not what we were going to do; that’s not in our DNA,” Calombaris admitted before announcing the launch of Made Foundation, a new support platform for the 642 Made Establishment group staff, emphasising health and mindfulness with the hope of it becoming a positive influence for the rest of the industry.
“There’s no question about it – the Made Establishment family really got bruised and battered over the last couple of years, but … without what happened and the knocks we copped, we wouldn’t be in this space right now. (…) I’ve got to stand up and be a role model. I have to accept failures and own up to mistakes, but also show that you can get past them and you can get better through your mistakes.”