Casual Greek restaurant franchise, Souvlakihut, has branched out into North Queensland with its first regional store opening recently on Charters Towers Road in Townsville.

The 200 sqm restaurant is the first Queensland Souvlakihut store outside of Brisbane and the Gold Coast and has created over 20 jobs in the local area.

“We’ve had tremendous success in Queensland so far, having opened our first store early 2008 in Robina. In just two years we’ve grown to nine stores across the southern region of the state and now we’re dipping our toes into the North Queensland market,” said Harry Phillipou, development agent (QLD) at Souvlakihut.

“Regional data from the northern Queensland districts shows employment has held up well in the Townsville region, especially when comparing with Far North Queensland towns such as Cairns,” said Phillipou. “We decided to open our first regional Queensland store in Townsville as the local economy has had consistently strong growth over the past few years and it’s a great way to begin our campaign of further expansion into Far North Queensland.”

Founders John and Bill Fotiadis have plans to reach 300 stores by the end of 2014 through a strategy of multi-unit ownership, where they will work closely with franchisees to develop their business skills to achieve strong business growth.

“This is a really significant milestone for us. To reach ten stores in Queensland in just two years is an incredible achievement,” John said. “Townsville takes us to 34 stores nationally, which makes us well on our way to achieving our growth targets with more store openings expected around the country in the next couple of months.”