South Australian café chain Bean Bar – has been acquired by Piccolo Me (part of the Fabe Group). The El-Hachem family (Harry, Roy and Charlie), along with Group General Manager – David Ciantar, have been conducting due diligence on the Bean Bar company since last year.
“The Bean Bar acquisition made sense for us, given that we were looking at establishing a footprint in South Australia”, said Co-founder and director – Charlie El-Hachem.
Bean Bar has 5 stores in the Adelaide market – consisting of 4 franchised stores and 1 company owned store.
The parent company – Fabe (Food and Beverage Enterprises), owns the Piccolo Me, SolBowl and Go Dark brands – which now adds Bean Bar to its’ stable of brands.
The acquisition also means that previous owner – Nitin Jakhwal will stay on with Fabe as State Manager, and oversee the day-to-day management, and support the current franchisees and work on growing the state.
“I am delighted that Fabe has decided to acquire Bean Bar. The brand is now moving from one family to another, and I am excited by what energy and passion Fabe will bring to the Bean Bar brand” – explains Nitin.
“We see the potential in the Adelaide market to grow Piccolo Me to at least 20 stores over the next 3 years.” Stated David Ciantar – Group General Manager.
Acquisitions for the Fabe brand have not been new – as they acquired SolBowl in August 2024 – which now has 8 stores, from the original 3 purchased.
Co-founders, Harry, Charlie and Roy El-Hachem will be eyeing off brands which can fit the Fabe model, and show potential for growth. “We believe we have the systems, processes and people to make a difference to food brands who need to scale both locally and internationally” said co-founder - Charlie El-Hachem.
The recent Bean Bar acquisition now gives Piccolo Me a total of 50 stores nationally. Piccolo Me has gone through some big growth over the last 3 years – actually doubling in size, and adding 2 additional retail brands – SolBowl & Bean Bar.
