The parent company of national café chain Piccolo Me has acquired South Australian chain Bean Bar.
Fabe Group, the multi-brand business that operates businesses including Piccolo Me and Sol Bowl, will now integrate Bean Bar into its operations.
Piccolo Me Co-Founder and Fabe Founder, Charlie El Hachem, says the continued growth of Fabe has stemmed from a piece of advice given to him by his father.
“My dad, Halim El Hachem, always gave one piece of advice to guide us,” Charlie writes on LinkedIn. “’We build with our hands and lead with our hearts. If you treat people like family, there is no limit to what you can do’.
“We have taken that advice and run with it. We believe the future of this café franchising is consolidation. There are so many incredible entrepreneurs out there, and we want to back them with our system.”
Bean Bar opened its first location on King William Street in Adelaide in December 2021, and currently operates five locations across the city, including the King William Street location. It also has a coffee cart that is available to book for events.
Piccolo Me, on the other hand, expanded its footprint out of Australia and into Lebanon in 2025 and operates 41 locations in Australia, most of which are in Sydney.
Charlie says Bean Bar Founder, Nitin Jakhwal, is staying with the business as Fabe’s Head of SA/WA, and not much will change within Bean Bar’s network for the foreseeable future.
“For Adelaide, it’s business as usual,” he says. “We are working in the background to optimise operations and roll them into the Piccolo Me network.
“As my Group GM David Ciantar told the new team this week: ‘growth means nothing without the right people. To the entire Bean Bar team – welcome to our Fabe family.”
