Famous Brands, the South African owner of fast-food chains including Debonairs Pizza and Steers burgers, is in talks with supermarket operator Shoprite Holdings about expanding a partnership to Nigeria and Zambia.
That strategy, and other moves to add fast-food outlets throughout the sub-Saharan Africa region, will help Famous Brands more than double the proportion of earnings from operations abroad across the continent, CEO Kevin Hedderwick said in an interview.
Negotiations with Shoprite involve “how we can work closer together in places like Nigeria, where they have a big footprint,” as well as in Zambia, Hedderwick said in an interview as his company’s Johannesburg headquarters today. “We are very keen to partner with each other outside of South Africa.”
Famous Brands has been adding outlets outside South Africa to help counter slowing economic growth in its domestic market, where consumer spending has been stifled by strikes, accelerating inflation and an unemployment rate exceeding 25 per cent. The company has focused on cost cuts and boosting the performance of the supply chain to maintain earnings growth.
The company will open its first restaurant in Angola next month as part of its joint venture with Shoprite, Hedderwick said. The Debonairs outlet will be established in Benguela, about 540 kilometers from the Angola capital of Luanda.
Bloomberg News edited by HI
