Spearheaded by Michael Rantissi and his partner Kristy Frawley, Kepos Street Kitchen has racked up numerous accolades, including the Sydney Morning Herald’s Best Cafe Food Award and a prestigious Good Food hat.
With numerous successes under their belt, you’d be forgiven for assuming that Michael and Kristy have had an easy ride to where they are today. However, as with all good things, their journey to success was far from plain sailing.
Building a hospitality business from scratch, co-writing two books and launching a catering company – all while fending off an initial wave of negativity – takes grit, determination, a whole heap of passion and a little bit of faith.
We sat down with Michael and Kristy in our new podcast series, RAW, to understand how they went from a couple with a dream to venue owners determined to create unique, memorable experiences.
This is the story of Kepos Street Kitchen.
Getting started
Kepos Street Kitchen opened its doors in 2012. It quickly became a firm favourite amongst Sydney locals, with the award-winning cafe serving a uniquely Mediterranean menu with a Middle Eastern twist.
Before embarking on their journey to open Kepos Street Kitchen, Michael and Kristy both forged successful careers in hospitality.
While Michael followed a more traditional path to becoming a chef, cutting his teeth in fine dining kitchens and working through the ranks, Kristy’s journey into the industry was a little less conventional.
“I’ve gone from airlines to hotels, to working at events, to then working in a restaurant. And that’s actually where I met Michael. So we met, maybe like 19 years ago now.” – Kristy.
With years of experience both in and out of the kitchen, Michael and Kristy make the perfect pair, and the natural next step – particularly for Michael – was to open a venue of their own.
“Michael has been a chef for a long time and has always wanted to own his own restaurant. But I think it was one of those things…”
“It’s a big leap when you’ve got a full-time salary, and then to say, okay, I’m gonna leave, and I’m gonna go and open my own space.” – Kristy.
A touch of fate
With their vision firmly at the forefront of their minds, Michael and Kristy needed a venue to turn their dreams into reality. And, as fate would have it, they unexpectedly stumbled across the perfect place.
“Across the road from the current Kepos Street Kitchen site, we parked the car, walked up and said, you know, wouldn’t that be a fantastic site, that little restaurant over there, if it ever came up for lease. So we had a little bit of a dream about it.” – Kristy.
Some might call it fate, others a matter of good timing, but when Michael and Kristy arrived back to their car 20 minutes later, their dream location had been put on the market.
“The ‘for lease’ sign had gone up on the window in that 20 minutes that we had been in the supermarket. So we called the real estate agent straight away.” – Kristy.
Despite some initial reservations and back-and-forth negotiations, Michael and Kristy took the plunge, signed on the dotted line, and Kepos Street Kitchen was born.
“The real estate, the landlord, they really wanted me to take the venue, and I think Kristy really wanted me to take the venue on. So everything was aligning well together. And I think if there are some things that align. You have to listen.” – Michael.
“It was meant to be, somehow, in every way. It was actually meant to be.” – Michael.
Stepping into the unknown
As with any new venture, a steep learning curve is inevitable – yet Michael and Kristy thrive from the challenge of a new experience, and learning on the job empowered them to carve out a unique venue in their little slice of Sydney.
“We learned a lot of things on the job more than with our experience. We never experienced running our own business. I think that was the hardest thing. It’s probably like people having their firstborn child. What do you actually do? There’s no right and wrong. It’s exactly like running a business. What do you do?” – Michael.
For Michael, the world of coffee, breakfasts and lunches was completely new. Unencumbered by the unknown, he relished the challenge of learning something new.
“My experience is mostly in restaurants and fine dining restaurants. So casual has never been on the radar at all for me. Starting Kepos Street Kitchen was just a new experience and something that we didn’t know anything about.”
“We had to learn and teach ourselves what to do. And I think part of the success of it is we didn’t really care what was happening outside our own little bubble.” – Michael.
Recipe for success
Despite entering a new world of casual dining, Michael and Kristy knew they were onto a winner with Kepos Street Kitchen, thanks to its size and location. And Kristy firmly believes that opting for a venue near where they live set them up for success early on.
“The location was very close to where we lived, so it was an easy location to understand. And I think that was very important… because you know the demographic, you know the people around you and have already created friendships around. So if people see you in your own venue, you’ve already captured some form of customer base.” – Kristy.
The size of the venue was another factor that Michael and Kristy knew would be pivotal in the success of their business.
“The size to me was the first thing that came to mind. It was 36 seats. It was manageable. I think that some places you go to and they’re ginormous, and we didn’t have backers, we had the family bank who kind of helped us out. And so you don’t wanna take on a venue that seats 150 people. That’s a very big risk, I think, to take on.” – Kristy
For Kepos Street Kitchen, 36 was the magic number, as their first opening weekend smashed all expectations and bought in more revenue than they dared hope for.
“We had a business plan, and what we estimated with our revenue, we achieved our highest expectation in the first weekend that we were open. So we were just like, wow.” – Kristy.
Stick to your guns
Despite the roaring success that Kepos Street Kitchen has achieved, Michael and Kristy were initially met with scepticism and negativity.
“The first weekend that we got the keys, my sisters and brothers-in-law came for a drink, and I could hear them going, what have Kristy and Michael done?” – Kristy.
For many, receiving initial negativity, particularly from friends and family, would be a huge blow. But for Michael and Kristy, it solidified their determination to stick to their guns.
And that they did.
“There was a lot of negativity as well from a lot of people because we were trying to do something different.”
“And the more negative approach I got from people, the more we stuck to our guns, doing what we actually wanted to do.” – Michael.
For Michael and Kristy, staying true to what they believe in and refusing to bow to external pressure were paramount to their success. They both had an unwavering belief that what they were doing was right, and never once did they question the direction in which they were headed.
“One of our biggest successes was doing what we wanted to do, not what people thought we should be doing.” – Michael.
“Beyond the product, the restaurant, the location, everything, a big part of [our success] was our energy… we believe that we will make it work because we didn’t really have a choice except making it work.” – Michael
“Failure was never an option.” – Michael.
More than making money
While success is shaped in many ways, Michael believes there’s a key ingredient that can mould the way you grow your business, so it flourishes and thrives.
Taking the time to reflect on your environment and ensuring the atmosphere and energy reflect your purpose and beliefs is instrumental in a successful venue.
Yes, making money is an integral part of running a business, but it shouldn’t be your sole focus. Instead, creating an environment that is welcoming and easy to be a part of is the real route to success.
“Stop and absorb the energy that is around… A restaurant is a live space. It has a lot of energy that actually talks to you. And you talk back to it. It sounds a bit crazy, I know. But you have to put in some form of energy; you have to get back some form of energy for it to actually be successful.”
“People need to walk into a space knowing that there is some form of love, some form of understanding, some form of communication, some form of soul, a heart. It’s beyond just the financial transaction. It’s lovely the financial transaction, but the financial transaction can never continue if there is no soul or humanity or human approach. All those energies are required in a venue.” – Michael.
Embracing change
If food and drink are the heart of a hospitality venue, energy and atmosphere are the soul. To keep that soul alive, Michael and Kristy believe you need to be open to change and ready to adapt when the time is right.
The fear of judgement, or upsetting customers, often holds many business owners back from making changes to their venue. But for a business to stand the test of time, it needs the freedom to evolve.
“COVID taught us that being judged by your customer base in your mind is stopping you from progressing. And I think COVID was a great lesson by telling people, you can actually change, and people don’t really mind you changing things around.” – Michael.
For the most part, you don’t judge a business on how good or bad it is just because they’re making changes. And, more often than not, people embrace change – it can just take a little time.
“What COVID actually did to a lot of businesses is make them think out of the box. It made you change your direction and understand that you’re not actually judged.” – Michael.
“So a lot of businesses go down because they don’t do any form of change. They don’t progress. They don’t adjust their business according to the time of what is happening at the moment.”
“And I think what we learned in the last three years since COVID started is you do have to change.”
“You do have to adjust. You do have to adapt, and you don’t have to wait for a pandemic to do that.” – Michael.
Listen to Raw Podcast
Listen to the full interview with Michael and Kristy on understanding your dream to create different experiences.
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