Milky Lane, one of Australia’s most recognisable experience-driven hospitality brands, has signed a national master franchise agreement with Royale Hospitality to roll out more than 26 new venues across the country. The expansion will take the network to 35 stores nationally and lifts the company’s valuation to over AU$100 million, marking the burger-and-cocktails concept’s biggest growth stage since its founding in 2016.
Founded by Christian Avant and Shane Fitzgerald, Milky Lane built a loyal following around street-art interiors, hip-hop-inspired dining rooms and social-media-viral burgers, cocktails and desserts. Under the new agreement, Royale Hospitality — one of Australia’s most experienced groups in high-energy dining and entertainment — will drive the national rollout, leading site selection, franchisee recruitment and operational standards across the expanding network.
It is a textbook use of the master franchise model inside a single large market: the founders keep control of brand and product, while a partner with deep hospitality infrastructure takes on the heavy lifting of scale.
Milky Lane has identified Queensland as its strongest growth territory on the back of community demand.
“Milky Lane is one of the most exciting hospitality brands in the country.”
Ray and Jake Strauss, directors of Royale Hospitality, said the brand’s loyal following, proven business model and distinctive cultural footprint underpin their bold growth strategy. Co-founders Avant and Fitzgerald described the partnership as a chance to scale while amplifying what makes the concept, in their words, unparalleled in its offering.
Milky Lane’s rise reflects a broader shift in casual dining: concepts that generate their own audience — through design, music and shareable menu items — carry built-in marketing that traditional QSR formats have to buy. That makes them attractive franchise propositions, particularly for hospitality groups that already run entertainment-led venues and understand late-trade operations.
An AU$100 million valuation attached to a 2016-founded burger brand shows how quickly master franchise structures can compound enterprise value once the unit model is proven. Australia has long been an exporter of hospitality concepts into Southeast Asia and the Middle East, and brands that professionalize through national master franchise partnerships are typically the next candidates for country-rights deals abroad. Investors tracking emerging franchise opportunities across Asia Pacific would do well to watch which Australian cult brands take this step — the master franchise signing is usually the first move in a much longer international story.
