Nashville hot chicken and ’90s nostalgia: How Super Nash Brothers became one of Sydney’s beloved fast-food chains

As any entrepreneur will attest, a successful business can often rise from the ashes of a failed venture. The origin of Super Nash Brothers – Sydney’s unique spin on Nashville-style fried chicken – illustrates this phenomenon perfectly (and deliciously).

In 2020, Super Nash Brothers CEO and founder Ross Kemp flew to Los Angeles in an effort to take his former business to the next level – an emerging food app called The Burger Collective. What he hadn’t anticipated was a severe outbreak of COVID leading to a complete lockdown of the United States.

“My former business partner and I had set up meetings with Shake Shack and a few other chains to discuss bringing them to Australia for a burger festival, which was to be an experiential marketing campaign in support of the app. But when lockdown struck, all those meetings were cancelled,” Mr Kemp recalled to realcommercial.com.au.

Super Nash Brothers has become a Sydney fast-food go-to. Picture: Supplied

Rather than languishing in his Hollywood Hills Airbnb (which happened to be owned by David Hasselhoff’s ex-wife), Ross chose to embark on a burger odyssey of LA.

The following ten days were spent devouring through as many of the city’s burger joints as possible, with the help of celebrity chef and First We Feast host, Alvin Cailan.

When Alvin introduced Ross to LA institution Howlin’ Rays, a modern take on traditional Nashville hot chicken, he knew he’d discovered something special.

“The line for the place was always massive and it took us two hours to get our food, but I swear it was the best chicken I’d ever had in my life! There was nowhere in Australia doing that kind of chicken, so I knew if I could nail a similar recipe it could be successful,” Mr Kemp enthused.

“We got back home and the lockdowns were already happening in Australia, which meant all our revenue from the burger app was drying up, because the business relied on restaurants having our members come into their stores. If Burger Collective wasn’t going to survive, I knew I needed to give the Nashville chicken idea a crack.”

Hot beginnings

Drawing on his background as a chef, Ross spent the next three months holed up in his kitchen, trialling different seasonings, coatings and marinades until he’d landed on a recipe that best matched the mouth-watering brilliance of Howlin’ Rays.

“We had a few taste testings where friends came over for dinner. They all said it was the best fried chicken they’d ever had, so we knew we were onto something,” Mr Kemp remembered.

With a resounding and greasy thumbs-up from his mates, Ross and his partners, Joe and Will, secured a small canteen in a Waitara tennis centre on Sydney’s upper north shore and began flogging burgers and fried chicken at a rapid rate.

The Super Nash Brothers team. Picture: Supplied

“I think what makes Nashville hot chicken so appealing to people who’ve never had it before is its unique flavour. After the chicken is deep fried, it gets dredged through a hot oil mix with brown sugarcane, pepper and a whole bunch of other spices. That gives it a really bright red look and sweet and spicy flavour.”

“Things went absolutely gangbusters from day one and we secured a permanent location in Waitara soon after.”

Food truckin’ tour of Sydney

By early 2021, lockdowns were still wreaking havoc on the hospitality industry. In lieu of launching a second location in haste, the Super Nash Brothers raised $70,000 to purchase a food truck and hit the streets of Sydney.

The following 18 months were spent peddling hot Nashville fried chicken across the city, with breweries a favoured port of call.

“We must’ve hit around 12 different breweries around that period. What was great about the food truck was it gave us the ability to test different markets and see where our product was likely to be successful,” Mr Kemp explained.

When lockdowns eased and Sydney began to reopen, the success of the food truck slowly waned.

“The food truck had run its course, so we sold it off and raised another $150k in capital towards another store.”

Expansion and franchising

Using profits from the sale of the food truck and a further round of funding, a second Super Nash Brothers store opened in Waterloo in October 2021.

“It was just after lockdown and the landlord was desperate to get somebody in there, so the rent was super cheap. I think we were paying $40k per annum when we first signed on,” Mr Kemp explained.

“Waterloo pretty much mirrored the community vibes of the Waitara location – surrounded by apartments, a big park and playing field across the road, lots of walk by traffic – all the right ingredients.”

Fried chicken from Super Nash brothers. Picture: Supplied

The Waterloo location proved a hit and a third Willoughby store soon followed in early 2022.

Mr Kemp told realcommercial.com.au more are on the way.

“Our next store will be franchised and we’ll probably open towards the end of this year. The top three locations we’re considering are the Northern Beaches, Castle Hill and Sutherland, because those markets have responded well in the past.”

“We’re aiming for a balanced dine-in/takeaway approach for this one, with a lot more space for in-store dining and customer experiences.”

’90s nostalgia and the world’s hottest chicken sandwich

So why the name, Super Nash Brothers? Is it wordplay on Nashville?

“The name is actually inspired by the 90s video game Super Smash Brothers,” said Mr Kemp.

“It’s a game that always brings back good memories of playing Nintendo with my brothers when I was a kid. We actually have Mario Kart machines in our Waterloo store and we hope to have more of that kind of stuff in our next location.”

“Nostalgia is something we always wanted to instil into the business, which is why we released a limited-edition Barbecue Shapes-flavoured burger a couple of years ago.”

The name and menu are inspired by the ’90s. Picture: Supplied

Other canny marketing campaigns that have attracted eyeballs and tastebuds to the Super Nash Brothers brand include the ‘world’s hottest sando’ – a fiery chicken sandwich made with capsaicin extract registering at 12m Scoville heat units.

“For context, the jalapeno is about 8,000 Scoville units,” Mr Kemp laughed.

“We ran a food challenge called The Hot Lap where customers had to eat the sandwich and then jump onto one of our Mario Kart machines and do a hot lap. If you could complete it without crashing or getting off the machine for a drink, you got a $100 voucher.”

“Unfortunately, we started to run into some issues, like people rubbing their eyes or getting it on their skin and having to go to the doctor. We still offer the sandwich, but we don’t market it anymore. And you have to sign a waiver now because that stuff is seriously hot.”

And while social media once played an important role in the business, Mr Kemp insists word of mouth is far more important.

“There’s definitely still opportunity for social media to grow the business further, but it’s not what it once was. In the last 12 to 18 months, social media has become so saturated and congested. We recently killed all of our performance marketing for socials because the cost has blown out of the water.” 

For the love of food

Running a chain of fast food stores is demanding work, but Mr Kemp insists he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I love cooking food. And the fact that I’ve managed to my chef skills to actually start a restaurant that people love makes me feel great. Getting good feedback from customers is really fulfilling.”

“I’ve also got a bunch of young guys working for me and managing our stores – one of them is my brother. Watching them grow, develop their skills and gain an understanding of how the business works is also extremely rewarding.”

Ross Kemp’s business tips

Executing is everything

Everyone has great ideas, but so many people don’t act on them out of fear of failure. Ideas are something, but actually going and doing it is what separates entrepreneurs from everybody else.

Perfectionism kills growth

Products, brands, businesses don’t need to be perfect to gain traction. Release your MVP to the market, whatever it might be – app, food, retail – then iterate along the way based on feedback (but not too much feedback!).

Surround yourself with people smarter and better than you

This is arguably the biggest thing you can do to speed run your ideas. Whether it be mentorship, capital or otherwise, having brilliant people around you makes you better.