Wahlburgers shuts four Australian outlets
Four of six Australian Wahlburgers restaurants have shut leaving Mark Wahlberg’s burger chain with two local sites.
The closures include the flagship Circular Quay outlet, which opened in 2022 as part of a $50 million partnership between the hamburger chain and the Mustaca family’s United Cinemas.
The other restaurants are at Manly, Byron Bay and Warriewood.
Remaining is the Bringelly drive-through in south-west Sydney and Surfers Paradise restaurant.
Up until recently, Wahlburgers planned to open two stores, in Melbourne’s Craigieburn and Rockingham in Perth.
Affected properties
The Manly restaurant at 36-38 South Steyne and the Warriewood outlet, 4 Vuko Place, are owned by interests linked to the Mustaca family.
Both were among 10 Planet Warriewood investment properties placed into receivership in May after lender Metrics Credit Partners took enforcement action.
At Circular Quay, Wahlburgers occupied Shop 18A, 7 Macquarie Street – a strata the Kazal family sold for $21.5m in 2019 to another high-net-worth investor.
The Byron Bay restaurant part of Mercato on Byron shopping centre at 98-116 Jonson Street, was acquired for about $119m in 2021 by a group initially comprising the Mustaca and Pelligra families and fund managers Option Group and Panthera Group (continues below).
The surviving Surfers Paradise Wahlburgers is at 2 Caville Avenue – the Paradise Centre.
That complex and neighbouring Novotel sold for $346.5m in May to Forest Endeavour, controlled by Taiwanese billionaire Lin Chen-hai, also owner of Shayher Group.
Challenger Life and Abu Dhabi Investment Corporation were the sellers.
Shrinking footprint
Wahlburgers has been shrinking its footprint globally.
Multiple closures in 2024 and the subsequent end of its partnership with US supermarket chain Hy-Vee, shrunk the network 79 to 32.
The business has shifted to small and non-traditional formats including airports, hotels and drive-through sites, with the company pursuing expansion in 2026.
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