How Kerbside grew from cheesecake on a stick to a cult-favourite American diner at ECQ

An abrupt interruption to his engineering career forced Jonathan Israfil to innovate. The experience led to the creation of a cult classic dessert, followed by a new American diner concept, and then a second store, to completely transform his career outlook from civil works to hospitality.

It was COVID. Relatively inexperienced at the time, being only a few years removed from his studies, Jonathan lost his job as a civil engineer.

It would prove the catalyst for change but at the time, his only priority was to earn a living.

“I’ve always loved the high-quality American-style diner concepts where there’s variety of things to order but for each option, like subs or burgers, there’s a limited range in which everything is done really well. It’s about offering choice but in a simplified, quality way,” he says.

“It was this kind of thinking that led to the idea of cheesecake on a stick. A simple idea but done really well. The initial objective was to make few dollars. And the first physical location was technically a marquee at the front of the house.”

Turns out the idea had legs. Before long, Jonathan had invested in a food truck, then a second, and he had established collaborations with other pop-up hot food operators to offer a complementary and unique dessert option.

That was in 2022. The following year, an opportunity became available closer to home.

Jonathan grew up in south-west Sydney and still lives about 15 minutes away from Frasers Property’s Ed.Square community. He went to school five minutes from the Town Centre.

“The ECQ store was going really well and at the same time, I’d been keeping an eye on the progress of Ed.Square. The Frasers Property leasing team knew I was interested in the Eat Street precinct. I was happy to get a call when an opportunity came up. In fact, I said ‘yes’ site unseen,” Jonathan says.

“It’s an area and a community I’ve always known really well and I was confident the Kerbside concept would fit in well with locals, as well as with the broader Eat Street offer. We opened in 2023 and we hit the ground running.

“The support of Frasers Property and the centre management team was something I knew I could rely on. They made it clear that the vision for Ed.Square’s Eat Street was to really reflect the local community, which suits me perfectly. I feel like I know everyone who walks past, having grown up and gone to school in the area.”

A major part of the support Jonathan leveraged was the Retailer Academy.

“As someone who came into the hospitality industry by chance, there were various parts of the customer experience that I’d simply not considered. It was an industry I’d never really been trained in,” he says.

“The Retailer Academy brought different ideas to front of mind. For instance, when inflation was a major concern and people were becoming more worried about the cost of living, it was valuable to hear people explain things like pricing strategy, breaking down the way certain offers might drive traffic at quieter parts of the day, how to target new demographics, how to leverage social media and different ways to appeal to price conscious consumers.

“The sessions introduced a whole new way of thinking and there have been plenty of ideas I’ve been able to incorporate into my own businesses. It has reinforced how important it is to be prepared for what’s next, because hospitality is a fast-moving space and customer behaviours change.”

For Jonathan, next up is a move into a new and bigger space at ECQ.

“At this stage, we’ll be doing an expanded fitout for Kerbside on about 150sqm which will ideally open in 2026. It will be a more comfortable space with more seating for customers and more opportunities to showcase the range.

This will include the cheesecake on a stick. The treat which would draw a new line in the sand for Jonathan’s career. As for engineering?

“I’ll never go back.”

He says it with conviction. You tend to believe him.