It’s a story we all love, how three brothers were so inspired by the food on their family table that they opened a restaurant to celebrate it. Their success was so remarkable that within ten years they had built an empire that is known across Australia.
Ask anyone on the Gold Coast to name where we should dine for great Italian food and they will mention Gemelli, Broadbeach. Twins Alec and James Carney, along with their older brother Paul, grew up in the NSW country town of Griffith, an agricultural hub largely populated by Italian immigrants. Coming from an extended family of excellent cooks, great food was central to their family, the boys learning to make traditional Italian food alongside their parents and grandparents.
“As kids, we grew up cooking with Mum in the family kitchen and making salami and tomato sauce beside our grandfather,” Alec tells us. “We fell in love with hospitality and the way we can create memories for people,” he adds.
After a few years working in hospitality in Sydney and the UK (Paul), the brothers decided to open a restaurant on the Gold Coast, where they had spent many holidays with their grandparents. While they were not trained as chefs, they had many assets, such as their cultural food background, their ability to work hard, and an interest in and ability to talk to people.
At the time, most restaurants on the Gold Coast were tourist-oriented and very seasonal. Even our coffee culture was relatively new. Advised not to go to the Gold Coast, that they would go broke if they did, the brothers saw opportunity rather than obstacles. They secured a site in Broadbeach that had had a high turnover in restaurants, grabbing the chance to fulfill their dream of bringing fresh, traditional Italian food to the region, filling a huge gap in the market.
With the help of family, and friends who were tradesmen from Griffith, they melded ideas from their travels and experience to transform the site into a rustic modern trattoria, Gemelli (meaning ‘the twins’), which opened in November 2013. They imported the oven from Italy and began making the first Neapolitan pizza to hit our shores, along with the traditional homemade pasta they had grown up eating at the family table. Bold and brave, Gemelli opened against the odds.
Success was not immediate. The twins were outsiders to the industry, having come from NSW, only 19 years old and a little naïve, but full of enthusiasm and good ideas. Instead of aiming to get tourists as clientele, they set about winning over the locals, gaining their trust with consistency and flavour. It was a move that paid off. Before long, Gemelli was buzzing with activity. Not only were locals convinced of Gemelli’s vibrant authenticity, but it also became a favourite dining place for seasonal visitors, who spread Gemelli’s fame throughout Australia.
“I am proud that many customers have returned every year since we opened,” James says. “We have created a name for ourselves and built relationships in both Sydney and Melbourne; friendships we would not have thought possible.”
Two years later, with business booming, the brothers opened the intimate trattoria Gemellini in Nobby Beach as well as a second Gemelli on the old Riviera Trattoria site in Sorrento.
Gemellini, Nobby’s ‘Little Twin’, a more relaxed and intimate venue than its Broadbeach sibling, pays tribute to its heritage, Italian trattorias. On entering the venue, our eyes are drawn to the kitchen rather than the bar, the huge pizza oven vying for focal point with an overhead charcuterie cabinet holding legs of prosciutto that hang languidly from its roof. Locals fell in love with the intimacy of Gemellini, a dining experience relished by couples and small groups.
In contrast, Gemelli Sorrento took longer to settle. Replicating the successful formula of the Broadbeach restaurant, Gemelli Sorrento proved to be a learning curve for the team. With a different demographic, the area was more focussed on children and takeaways than date nights. Also, Riviera had been BYO, a local expectation for that area, so tweaks were made to the operation, and the venue was renamed Roy’s by Gemelli.
“Roy’s taught us the need to know the customer,” Alec tells me. “The business model needs to cater for the particular demographic where you are.” He cites both Gemelli in James Street Brisbane (opened September 2021) and the newly opened Papa Rolly’s in Carrara (April 2025) as other examples of this principle.
Following the opening of a traditional gelato shop, Papa Rolly’s will be the group’s sixth venue, named in honour of their grandfather Rolando, the man who connected them to the flavours and culture of the Abruzzo region of Italy. At Papa Rolly’s, the aim of the team is to bring homemade Italian food to the suburbs in a neighbourhood family restaurant.
“People are so much more knowledgeable than when we first opened Gemelli,” James says. “At first, we had to educate people about handmade pizza and pasta. It is simple food made well, an elevated product. ‘Old school’ Italian dishes use top quality fresh ingredients and simple methods. Nothing is overcomplicated,” he adds. “This has been one of the secrets of our success, that we don’t take shortcuts.”
James gives the example of his favourite dish, Rigatoni ragu, a #1 hangover feed. It was the Sunday staple ‘homey’ dish that Mum used to make when we were growing up, a family recipe featuring eight-hour slow-cooked oxtail and pork shin, with crushed tomatoes imported from San Marzano.
“I’ve been eating it here for 11 years and I’m still not sick of it,” he adds. Why? “Onion, carrot and celery,” he tells me. “They’re the cornerstones to our success – nothing pre-prepped, everything made fresh daily for maximum flavour.”
Even at their Brisbane restaurant, which is more corporate, the same principles apply, with polished service being the key to diners relaxing and spending time on their meal.
The group’s focus on staff has inadvertently been spotlighted since Covid, James says.
“During Covid, when businesses were backing off because of lockdowns and lack of patronage, we doubled down, paying our 120 staff so that we would have them working for us when we came out the other side of the pandemic,” says James. “When we reopened, we were packed. We had kept our experienced team, whereas many other restaurants were scratching around for staff. It was a lesson that when things get tough, you have to put everything into your business and go for it. Be brave. It pays off on the other side.”
Now with 200 staff, Gemelli has transformed from a single restaurant to a company, the Gemelli Group. Some of the family’s original staff are still with them, some have moved through the ranks and gained skills, going from ‘dishie’ to chef, while others have moved on to open their own restaurants.
“A lot of Gold Coast pizzerias and trattorias that have opened in the last five years are operated by ex-Gemelli staff,” Alec says. It’s a tribute to Gemelli as a ‘training house’, and to the brothers who themselves have succeeded through strong core values, hard work and respect for others.
After a recent visit to Canada, Alec says he is keen to take their team culture to even more elevated levels.
“I loved the old school hospitality that’s evident in Canada,” he tells us. “Of course it’s incentivised by the tipping system there, however there’s a standard of service there that we can aspire to and work towards. There are ways we can incentivise better service. For example, we’re looking at each staff member keeping their own tips rather than sharing them between staff to help maximise the diner experience,” he adds.
“The demeanour of the team is a reflection of us and our ideals – a family-based business that makes handmade food with consistency and honesty. We have grown into a company, but we still need the personal touch and the passion to work hard.”
With success has come Australia-wide recognition, Gemelli Group winning the award for Young Entrepreneurs of the Year 2022 and being named in the Top 100 Young Entrepreneurs Australia in 2025.
“Despite our recognition, it’s important to stay humble. We know where we came from and that hard work is what pays off,” James tells us. “Every day we have to front up and put in to keep things working. We’re proud of our achievements but being an entrepreneur can be super lonely. We study and follow modern ways to run a business, creating new systems that streamline operations as we grow, but we still hold old-fashioned values. We have good people who drive the dream as much as we do. We give as much as we can to the team and, in turn, they support us.”
Like travel, dining out is about creating an experience. As the aromas float out of the kitchen to bind our conversations together, we remember some of our favourite parts of Italy. We’re in a happiness bubble, whisked away to times past when extended families enjoyed this food around communal tables, just as we are enjoying it now. Our appetites and senses appeased; life is as it should be.