Cue up Men at Work’s “Down Under”, Oporto – an Aussie chicken burger chain that serves “Portuguese-style chicken sandwiches” has opened its first store in Rancho Cucamonga, a town with a silly enough name that if you didn’t know better, you might assume it was located west of Woolagong or maybe north of Woolamaloo. The Australian-based chain that started at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in 1986, plans to open two more shops in Southern California later this year.
Local SoCal press has taken the opportunity to claim Oporto has a cult following in Australia similar to In-and-Out Burger (hmmmm?), as well as to cast a pox on the bigoted Chick-fil-A chain that has plans open in Hollywood later this year. (Weight-conscious starlets will note that Oporto’s chicken sandwiches are grilled, not deep-fried.)
The Oporto in America campaign is led by a former executive for the Del Taco chain, so there is some US-fast-food know-how at work. Invading the sacred ground near where the first McDonald’s was launched, and the only nearby cult with more followers than In-and-Out is Scientology will certainly pose its challenges. Two things in Oporto’s favor, though. (1) It will provide an Aussie brekkie sandwich featuring real Australian bacon. And (2) Portuguese-inspired sandos, or not, Oporto is authentically Australian – it is no Outback Steakhouse.
Sources: FastCasual.com and LA Weekly.
Kathy Drasky regularly writes about online culture. Her marketing and communications work with the ANZA Technology Network, Advance Global Australians and with various Australians and Australian enterprises has led to at least a dozen trips Down Under.
An accomplished digital photographer, her photos have appeared in 7×7 Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and Google Schmap.
