Morgan McGlone closes takeaway chicken shop in Potts Point

Former Belles Hot Chicken chef Morgan McGlone has shut Sunday at Potts Point, his pioneering contribution to the chef-restaurateur push into the rotisserie chicken sector.

The 42-seater on Macleay Street, designed by Steel and Stitch, was one of the slickest of its genre. The chef will transform it into a bar.

McGlone has also scrapped plans to open a new Sunday venue at Circular Quay’s Sydney Place development, but he says this isn’t the end of Sunday; just a strategic realignment.

“We’re shifting to more of a suburban strategy, and also looking at other options, like going into pubs,” he says. Sunday is negotiating on two sites on the lower north shore.

While Sunday − fuelled by takeaway − boomed at the height of COVID, as restrictions eased, customer demand shifted back to more upmarket dining in saturated restaurant markets such as Potts Point.

Soaring poultry prices have also had a serious impact on a sector historically viewed as inexpensive. McGlone points to a nearly 50 per cent rise in the cost of chickens since he launched two years ago.

Chicken spin-offs have proven a popular brand extension among top hospitality operators since Justin Hemmes opened The Chicken Shop in 2017. Ibby Moubadder, owner of the upmarket Nour restaurant in Surry Hills, opened charcoal chicken start-up Henrietta, a few doors down from Nour on Crown Street.

The trend has spread beyond Sydney. Last year, former Becasse owner-chef Justin North opened JD’s Chicken Co in Noosaville, and just last week, hatted Northern New South Wales restaurant Fleet joined the poultry party, opening Birds of Paradise Rotisserie at Brunswick Heads.