Eat Street entrepreneurs: how one family built four eateries in Ed.Square

“To open one business in any shopping centre, you have to be a little bit insane. I’ve now opened four at Ed.Square.”

When Anthony Java made a drastic career shift to hospitality, he did so with zero experience. He would need to take advantage of every edge available.

Feeling stuck in the corporate world of software sales, Anthony took a leap of faith and when Ed.Square Town Centre first opened in April 2021, his first business, a Gami Chicken & Beer franchise, was among the opening day tenants.

“I left a safe job to get into hospitality but it’s something I felt compelled to do. Plus, my family and I had made Ed.Square home,” he says.

“But I had no experience, not even as a teenager - I never worked at Macca’s!

“I knew I would have to learn from scratch, and any edge you can get, you should take. Thankfully at Ed.Square, there was a whole support system to take advantage of. And in my wife Lolita, I had the perfect partner. She’s the true hero behind our family business.”

In the time since, Anthony has become one of Ed.Square’s biggest success stories. He followed the opening of Gami Chicken & Beer with a second business in the Town Centre, Elijah’s Artisan Breadhouse, in late 2022, and then a third in 2024, Iggy’s Frozen Bar. It sells a selection of premium soft-serve frozen yoghurt and acai bowls. Elijah and Iggy are his two boys.

Then in May 2025, Anthony opened a new Malaysian restaurant, Makan, in Ed.Square’s Eat Street, making it four businesses all serving the local community he and his family belong to.

“I still have the folder in my draw”

When making the transition from the corporate world to hospitality, Anthony was “hungry to learn” as much as he could. So he and Lolita went to the cinema.

Frasers Property held an initial session of The Retailer Academy for Ed.Square retailers at Event Cinemas in the Town Centre which, at the time, was preparing to officially open. Retail thought leader Brain & Poulter was the special guest and the insights from that day made a profound impression on Anthony.

“They spoke about the importance of marketing and how to execute the right strategies, how to build brand awareness, how to kickstart a business and grow momentum in a sustainable way,” he says.

“They made the point that your customers for life are your neighbours and so during opening week, we should find the time to introduce ourselves to the other retailers in the centre. It sounds simple but it was really important. The retailers here support each other and it helped create the village atmosphere that’s here today.

“We were presented with plenty of information at that first Retailer Academy session and I still have the folder in my draw.”

In the years since, Anthony has tapped into The Retailer Academy’s regular sessions to grow and further refine his offer.

He fondly recalls a session with Charles Bowie on the psychology of pricing.

“Charles talked about the ways we can tap into the customer psyche, the importance of signage and how to leverage your ‘hero’ products,” he says.

“At the time, I had recently opened my second store at Ed.Square, Elijah’s Artisan Breadhouse, and I was looking to increase the average basket size. I realised the lessons from that session could be applied straight away.

“As soon as it finished, I went straight to my computer and worked up a design in Canva, then drove straight to Officeworks to print it out, and the new signs were up that day.

“Banh mi was my hero product and by creating a combo pack with iced tea, it drove a huge increase in beverage sales and my average basket size vastly increased. Those signs are still here to this day.”

Doubling down…again and again

With two and then three businesses all achieving growth in the Town Centre, the Centre Manager at Ed.Square approached Anthony to see if he’d like to discuss another opportunity.

“Villages have been around forever but in a metropolitan area like this, a village atmosphere is rare. It’s one of the reasons I was drawn to Ed.Square and if there’s an opportunity to strengthen ties here, I’ll always consider it,” he says.

That’s how Makan, his Malaysian restaurant at Ed.Square, was born. Opened in 2025, the name means ‘eat’ in Malaysian and Anthony describes it as “elevated casual dining” with a menu serving up traditional Malaysian cuisine but with some interesting surprises to satisfy the diverse local population.

“I may have entered the hospitality business with no experience but in my corporate career, I had experience in building teams. I’ve drawn on that at Ed.Square, and Lolita heads up operations across all our stores.

“I’ve built a foundation team and focused on cross-skilling people to work across the different businesses. Key senior staff can move between operations on any given day. Staffing is a major challenge in hospitality but the supportive environment at Ed.Square has helped me grow, and keep, a fantastic team.

“At our last Christmas party we had around 45 staff come along.”

Frictionless

Anthony operates hospitality businesses in other retail centres too. He says there can be a “natural friction” which exists between landlord and tenant.

“Each centre has its own dynamic and some offer a more supportive environment than others,” he says.

“It’s a testament to the great relationship I have with Frasers Property that I committed to Ed.Square from day one, and I’ve now re-committed a further three times. I’ve come to know the Centre Manager and other members of the management team personally.

“It’s a community unlike any other and my family and I spend the majority of our time here. “My kids go to school locally, they play in the Town Centre, and we’re regulars at dinner time on Eat Street. Many of the retailers at Ed are regular customers with me and we’re regular customers with them. It’s a true village connection we share.”