A history of franchising in South Africa – by the decade
A history of franchising in South Africa is perhaps best told through its iconic franchises. In this article we take a look at the history of franchising in South Africa on a decade-by-decade timeline.
We start back in the 1960s with the birth of Steers, the first South African franchise. Steers is a flame-grilled burger chain that is famous throughout South Africa. The story begins with George Halamandaris…
1960s
The Steers idea came to George while he was on holiday in the United States in 1960. Halamandaris decided that he would bring the concept and updated method of restaurant and fast food catering to South Africa, which resulted in the first “real” steakhouse in the country1. The first Steers steakhouse restaurant was opened in Bellevue, Johannesburg. In 1983 Steers launched a new franchise program and in 1994 the company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange under the name Steers Holdings Limited. Today Steers has 522 stores around the world.
1970s
The 1970s were an important time for franchising as they saw the birth of a truly iconic South African retail franchise that has become part of the cultural landscape. This franchise is Shoprite. The first Shoprite was founded in 1979 in Cape Town when a number of small supermarkets were purchased for a price of R1 million2. The first branch outside the Western Cape was opened in 1983. In 1990, Shoprite opened its first store outside South Africa in Namibia.
1980s
Chicken Licken, a popular fast-food fried chicken chain was opened in Johannesburg in 1982. It has over 200 stores in four African countries. Another well-known chicken franchise chain is Nando’s which was also established in the 1980s. In 1987 Fernando Duarte, a Portuguese man who had immigrated to South Africa with his family, took his friend Robert Brozin to a chicken restaurant in Johannesburg. Brozin, so impressed by the tasty flame-grilled chicken proposed that they buy the restaurant and they did it!3 The business grew from there and the rest is history.(ref) Nando’s opened its first store in the UK in 1992.
1990s
Debonairs pizza was established in 1991 by two university students. One of those students was Craig Mckenzie who operated from a family bakery in Pietermaritzburg4. Another franchise that was established in the 1990s was Mugg and Bean. The first store was opened in 1996 on Cape Town’s Waterfront. Ben Filmalter got the idea when he was on a trip to Chicago with his wife Judi in the early 1990s5. Today Mugg and Bean operates in five countries around the world including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Post-apartheid
Franchising continues to grow apace in South Africa and many franchises expand throughout Africa and even to Europe or the United States. What is unique about the South African franchise landscape is that around 90% of franchises in South Africa are locally developed ones.
Sources:
1. superbrands.com
2. shopriteholdings.co.za
3. rateyournandos.com
4. debonairs.com
5. themugg.com