Locals bewildered as iconic Red Rooster hits the market after 20 years
A popular Red Rooster on the Sunshine Coast has quietly closed and been listed for sale after more than 20 years, leaving local residents shocked.
The two-storey drive-thru site in the heart of Noosaville’s fast-food strip on Mary Street has served hot chips and roast chook to locals since the early 2000s.
However, in recent weeks the popular chicken joint has shuttered with little fanfare.
“Did anyone else wake up this morning and discover Red Rooster had closed?” one local asked the Noosa Community Notice Board on Facebook.
“No ‘closing soon’ signs, no farewell post, no last chance for a Rooster Roll or cheeky pineapple fritter… it just quietly disappeared.”
One person replied: “Apparently [it] shut down three weeks ago.”
This caused another to reply: “Nah, can’t be right because I was here buying dinner less than three weeks ago.”
A third person who said they had driven past the site in late June, confirmed the news.
“Yes, noticed yesterday when we drove past and saw the inside was gutted,” they wrote.
Others queried whether the closure was linked to the franchise operator behind the Noosaville site experiencing financial difficulties over recent years.
In 2019, the then franchise operator Sunstate Foods Pty Ltd went into voluntary administration, closing a number of local stores, including Noosa Civic and Mary Street, Sunshine Coast News reported.
It later reopened under a new franchise, only to again close.
The site is now listed for sale, with Tracey Ryan of Ray White Commercial Noosa and Sunshine Coast handling the campaign.
“Having been home to Red Rooster for over 20 years, 2 Mary Street is an absolute landmark in the local area,” Ryan said in a statement to nine.com.au.
“The property is currently vacant and fully equipped for a commercial kitchen, which presents an incredible blank canvas.”
“While it’s perfectly primed for another drive-thru restaurant, the flexible layout opens the door for a range of alternative uses including premium hospitality, retail, medical, or service-based businesses,” Ryan added.
Set on a 1010-square-metre corner block in the heart of the area’s fast-food strip, the property comes fully equipped with a single-lane drive-thru, a commercial kitchen featuring a grease trap, three-phase power, an exhaust flue and 17 dedicated on-site car parks.
The two-storey site includes a 224-square-metre ground floor that serves as the restaurant, an 84-square-metre drive-thru and a 222-square-metre upper level.
Despite the fryers being off and the drive-thru sitting empty, any future transformation to the site remains subject to council approval.
The property sits alongside McDonald’s, KFC and 7-Eleven and is just a short walk from Gympie Terrace, the Homemaker Centre, Woolworths and Dan Murphy’s.
Its proximity to the Central Noosaville dining and tourism precinct also draws in a larger customer base for prospective buyers.
The property is offered for sale via an Expressions of Interest campaign closing at 5:00pm on Friday, 31 July 2026 and also for lease.
