Oporto Holdings Pty Ltd is an Australian and New Zealand

fast food restaurant A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast-food cuisine and has minimal table service. The food served in fast-food restaurants is typically ...

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

, with a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

-theme. Oporto specialises in Portuguese style chicken and burgers. It is a subsidiary of fast food holding company

Craveable Brands Craveable Brands Ltd (formerly known as Quick Service Restaurant Holdings) is an Australian fast food holding company. It owns the Red Rooster, Oporto (restaurant), Oporto, and Chicken Treat brands with 580 restaurants in Australasia and Southe ...

, which also owns the

Red Rooster Red Rooster is an Australian fast food restaurant chain founded in 1972 that specialises in roast chicken, chicken burgers and fried chicken. Their product range includes whole roasts, half roasts, wraps, burgers, salads, beverages and desserts ...

and

Chicken Treat Chicken Treat is an Australian barbecue chicken fast food restaurant chain that was founded and primarily operates in Western Australia. As of December 2022, Chicken Treat has over 60 outlets within Western Australia, one in Central Queensland, ...

brands.

Internationally

Oporto has more than 100 'eat in' or '

take-away A take-out or takeout (U.S., Canada, and the Philippines); carry-out or to-go (Scotland and some dialects in the U.S. and Canada); takeaway (England, Wales, Australia, Lebanon, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally in Nort ...

' restaurants in Australia and New Zealand. It previously also operated stores throughout China and expanded to Sri Lanka and Vietnam in August 2018. Oporto is also looking to expand its operations into the Middle East, with its first store earmarked for Dubai in early 2020.

Founding and history

The first Oporto restaurant was founded in 1986 by António Cerqueira, an Australian of Portuguese descent, in

North Bondi, New South Wales North Bondi is a coastal, eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 7 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council. North Bondi is a mostly residential ar ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

but was originally named ''Portuguese Style Bondi Charcoal Chicken''. The 'Oporto' name came from Cerqueira's favourite football team, FC Porto. Oporto first opened a franchise store in 1995 and was named the fastest growing franchise in Australia in January 2005 by ''

Business Review Weekly ''BRW'' (formerly ''Business Review Weekly'') was an Australian business magazine published by the Fairfax Media group. The magazine was headquartered in Melbourne. It regularly compiled lists which rank corporations and individuals according to ...

''. In 2007 there were 100 locations in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, 14 in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, 8 in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, 5 in the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

, 5 in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

and 6 in New Zealand. Some of these restaurants are called ''Oporto Express'' and offer a smaller range of products – most commonly this means they do not offer a breakfast menu. By this stage, António and his two brothers were close to being estranged. When Jesus, the middle brother, decided to start his own brand of Fast Food Portuguese Burger Franchise, Ogalo, it turned into full blown war. While holidaying in Tuncurry, New South Wales, the third brother was inspired by the sunny and serene Great Lakes and developed Portogalo Chicken, a third rival franchise. Oporto opened their first store in the United Kingdom at London's Victoria Station in January 2009 although this store closed on 18 October 2011, and opened their first restaurant in the United States in

Rancho Cucamonga, California Rancho Cucamonga ( ) is a city located just south of the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and Angeles National Forest in San Bernardino County, California, United States. About east of Downtown Los Angeles, Rancho Cucamonga is the 28th ...

on 25 February 2011. Oporto stores in the United States were all converted to Feisty Chicken Grill in 2013. There are now over 100 stores in operation in Australia and New Zealand. Oporto has three types of Oporto store types; Drive Thru, Shopping Centre and Strip stores.

Parent ownership and acquisitions

In July 2007,

Quadrant Private Equity Quadrant Private Equity (also simply known as Quadrant) is an Australian private equity investment firm based in Sydney, Australia. The company was founded as Quadrant Capital in 1996 by Chris Hadley. Quadrant hosts multiple investment funds w ...

and Quick Service Restaurant Holdings now known as

(which owns

and

) purchased Oporto. In June 2011,

Archer Capital Archer Capital is an Australian private equity investment firm based in Sydney. It was founded as GS Private Equity in 1996. Archer Capital hosts multiple investment funds which invest in businesses across a wide array of industries and sectors, ...

acquired Quick Service Restaurant Holdings from Quadrant Private Equity for an estimated $450 million (including Red Rooster and Chicken Treat). On 26 March 2012 Oporto ceased trading in China, closing its three outlets. On 7 April 2013, Oporto's US franchisee closed its three outlets. In 2013, Oporto opened their first restaurant in Western Australia in South Perth. Oporto has since increased to over 8 stores in the region.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies based in Sydney Fast-food franchises Fast-food chains of Australia Fast-food poultry restaurants Restaurants established in 1986 1986 establishments in Australia Portuguese-Australian culture

Internationally

Founding and history

Parent ownership and acquisitions

See also

References

External links