Popular Australian-born Lebanese chicken chain El Jannah has just been acquired in a gob-smackingly huge deal that’s estimated to be worth something approaching $1 billion dollars. US private equity firm General Atlantic has bought a controlling share of the company, with the original company founders holding onto a sizeable minority stake. Current El Jannah CEO Brett Houldin will continue to lead the business. 

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Credit: Supplied

Who owns El Jannah?

El Jannah began as a humble charcoal chicken shop, opened by Lebanese migrant couple Andre and Carole Estephan in Granville, Western Sydney in 1998. By 2020, they had five locations across Western Sydney. And people were talking. Especially about that garlic sauce. Sydney had a huge new chicken hit on its hands, and competitors like Oporto and Red Rooster suddenly found themselves sleeping slightly less soundly at night,

Fast-forward five years, and El Jannah now has 50 locations across NSW, the ACT and Victoria. The new acquisition will help to facilitate a national expansion strategy to quadruple the number of El Jannah restaurants in Australia from 50 to almost 200 in the coming years. At least 25 will open across NSW, the ACT and Victoria in the next 12 months, and there are further plans to expand into Queensland and South Australia. 

Houldin says that the partnership with General Atlantic will also mean that the business can “explore selective international expansion for the first time, including the possibility of exporting our unique Australian-Middle Eastern flavour profile back to the Middle East, and into other high-potential markets.”

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Credit: @el__jannah

What is General Atlantic?

New York-based General Atlantic is a global investor that manages a staggering amount of assets – around $118 billion globally. It was founded in 1980 by Chuck Feeney, the US billionaire who is famous for giving away nearly all of his $8 billion fortune before his death in 2023. 

Will this takeover have an impact on the brand we know and love? Houldin says that the company is “committed to preserving the soul of the brand the Estephan family built”, but it remains to be seen whether the local charm and home-style quality that made El Jannah a Western Sydney icon can be maintained in a new business model that has its focus firmly fixed on aggressive national and international growth. 

Just don’t change the garlic sauce, okay guys?

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