Oporto Holdings Pty Ltd

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Food
Founded	1986; 38 years ago (1986) (Original store) 1995; 29 years ago (1995) (1st franchise)
Headquarters	Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia
Areas served	Australia New Zealand
Key people	Samantha Bragg - CEO
Products	Chicken products, burgers, wraps, salads, sides and desserts
Parent	Craveable Brands[1]
Website	www.oporto.com.au (Australia) www.oporto.co.nz (New Zealand)

Oporto Holdings Pty Ltd is an Australian fast food restaurant franchise, with a Portuguese-theme. Oporto specialises in Portuguese style chicken and burgers. It is a owned by parent investment firm PAG Asia Capital, which also owns the Red Rooster and Chicken Treat restaurant chains.

Oporto has more than 100 'eat in' or 'take-away' restaurants in Australia and New Zealand. It previously also operated stores throughout China and expanded to Sri Lanka and Vietnam in August 2018. Oporto also was looking to expand its operations into the Middle East, it’s Dubai store opened in early 2020.

Founding and history

Oporto's first restaurant was founded in 1986 by António Cerqueira, an Australian of Portuguese descent, in North Bondi, New South Wales, Australia but was originally named Portuguese Style Bondi Charcoal Chicken. The 'Oporto' name came from Cerqueira's favourite football team, FC Porto. The second location was opened in Maroubra Junction.

The Franchise right was sold and António Cerqueira keepping the original store with the second store becoming a franchise store later. The event that lead to the closing of original store(on the hill at Bondi) began after the franchise opened a store in Bondi Junction. With original owners having exclusive rights to suburb of Bondi. A sentiment was reached with the original store closing and new larger franchise store build at bottom of the hill close to the beach at Bondi.

Oporto first opened a franchise store in 1995^[2] and was named the fastest growing franchise in Australia in January 2005 by Business Review Weekly.

In 2007 there were 100 locations in New South Wales, 14 in Queensland, 8 in Victoria, 5 in the Australian Capital Territory, 5 in South Australia 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.

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 on 25 February 2011.^[3] Oporto stores in the United States were all converted to Feisty Chicken Grill in 2013.^[4] 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 and Quick Service Restaurant Holdings now known as Craveable Brands (which owns Red Rooster and Chicken Treat) purchased Oporto.^[5]

In June 2011, Archer Capital acquired Quick Service Restaurant Holdings from Quadrant Private Equity for an estimated $450 million (including Red Rooster and Chicken Treat). ^[6][7]

On 26 March 2012 Oporto ceased trading in China, closing its three outlets.^[8]

On 7 April 2013, Oporto's US franchisee closed its three outlets.^[4]

In 2013, Oporto opened their first restaurant in Western Australia in South Perth. Oporto has since increased to over 8 stores in the region.