Take a walk down EziStreat

An Australian first has landed in a 600-square-metre warehouse on Macaulay Rd in North Melbourne.

Its name is EziStreat, and it’s a street-food hall unlike any before it, covering all colours of the culinary rainbow.

With 12 stalls (or partners), from Etto’s ever popular Italian street food or Parco Ramen, to Sinjeon, a Korean hawker heavyweight with more than 750 locations around the world; EziStreat is re-writing the definition of “spoilt for choice”.

Locals may be familiar with EziStreat’s colourful muralled exterior near the corner of Macaulay and Boundary roads, but what they won’t be accustomed to is the unique business model behind Melbourne’s newest street-food Mecca.

Fifty per cent of all business through EziStreat and its various traders’ tills is generated from walk-ins, the other half comes through food delivery services under their “dark kitchen” model.

This differs from traditional bricks and mortar hospitality businesses according to EziStreat founder Yun Kim, which generally sit food delivery at 30 per cent of their revenue.

“The logic behind it [EziStreat], is that we try to help our partners to focus on producing beautiful food and all of the remaining elements, like tech support and infrastructure, are handled by us,” Mr Kim said.

“We did a bit of research and came across the hybrid food hall, dark kitchen concept, and it was a shared economic model which was familiar to me. You have a property, you divide the space and offer it to businesses who are after affordable rent.”

Jymmanuel Taiwanese street food.

Mr Kim, who has a corporate background in property and student accommodation, told North West City News it was during the dark times of pandemic-induced lockdown, with his industry ground to a halt, the necessity of inspiration came to him after a lengthy research process, and the concept for EziStreat was born.

“During that time, my wife asked me ‘why don’t we open a fish and chips shop?’ … to make a bit of quick cash and wait until the market is back,” he said.

“EziStreat was initially designed to be a completely dark kitchen, but we realised we needed to accommodate for a post-COVID world.”

“We now provide a platform for small businesses to dip their toes into bricks and mortar trading by removing many of the barriers that they come across on a regular basis and minimise their risks.”

“There is a lot of coworking space for start-ups, but it is mainly for tech or white colours, not for the food and beverage industry.”

Separate to any of the vast, and delicious, array of food choices, EziStreat acts as a platform for businesses wanting to grow but can’t afford a traditional shopfront, those wanting to extend their presence through delivery into new parts of Melbourne, or international franchises needing to expand into new countries.

As you would expect with a venue that boasts 12 different partners, a beer garden, a Japanese convenience store and an endless run of food delivery drivers coming in and out of your doors, “nothing is easy” according to Mr Kim, but hustle, and the reception from the community, has been worth the pain.

“There is a lot going on at any one time, and it is never easy because this model has never been tried before,” Mr Kim said. “It looks like a trendy food hall on the surface, but it’s not just that. We provide all the tech support for our partners; all they need to do is plug their equipment in and out and focus on creating great food.”