OOSHMAN eyes expansion after successful refresh

The Sydney-based modern Lebanese Bakehouse aims to open 10 more branches in 18 months.

OOSHMAN which was launched as a Lebanese pizza takeaway concept in Sydney’s Inner West in 2008, is expanding in New South Wales and to the Australian Capital Territory after changing its name from Manoosh to OOSHMAN.

“It’s been a couple of years in the making,” Charlie Hoyek, founder and director at the Australian pizza chain, told QSR Media about the name change. “We were thinking about it during COVID, then dropping it off, then thinking about it again. Then, we decided that it was time to do it so we did, and we did a great job of it. We transformed the whole company and 18 locations (at the time) in 12 weeks with great planning ahead. 

“For now, we plan to open 10 restaurants within the next 18 months,” Hoyek said. “We got one opening soon, to take us to 20, then after that 10, with the main goal of reaching 50 within 5 years.”

OOSHMAN — Manoosh flipped backwards — is also the name of the company’s mascot, selected from an online poll they did with customers in 2019. The company’s new name was an obvious choice.

Hoyek said the name change became inevitable after noticing independent Lebanese bakeries popping up with the same generic spelling “Manoosh” — a type of traditional Lebanese flatbread topped with various ingredients, typically enjoyed as a street food or casual meal in Lebanon and throughout the Middle East — in their names. 

“So more stores kept popping up while we were growing at the same time. So [I thought] we might need to do something about this as it was becoming too generic in the marketplace.

Inspired by the Lebanese heritage of Hoyek, the business has expanded its menu offer beyond the traditional Lebanese pizza to classic pizzas and freshly baked wraps.

Hoyek, who said they are working on a menu update that they would launch soon, said they hired a professional branding agency for the refresh because he wanted the pizza chain to have a more modern and fresh feel.

The Manoosh Pizzeria used red, green, and white, representing the colours of Lebanon. For OOSHMAN, they chose a vibrant green colour — the colour of the cedar tree — and to project freshness. 

One of the key challenges of rebranding was educating customers about their new name, whilst assuring them that they are still the same old brand they have come to love, Hoyek said. They came out with teaser ads four months before the launch in July 2024.

“We started adding pop-ups on our website, socials, app and our online ordering systems,” Hoyek said. “We wanted to show customers that something new was coming by showing bits and pieces of the brand, to get them excited.”

“Eventually, we started to show the new logo by launching a GIF of the old logo spinning to show the new one. We even engaged with our aggregators to put in different banners showing that this is who we are, this is who we are changing too,” he added.

It was all worth it because a month later, OOSHMAN reported a 15% increase in sales across the board, which Hoyek attributed to the brand refresh. “We did it for the future of the company, and now we feel like we are born again, which is an encouraging feeling to have.”