Spur now ready to open more restaurants

FOOD franchise group Spur said yesterday it would continue to expand both at home and abroad in an effort to secure its revenue streams.

Chief executive Pierre van Tonder said the group would continue to focus on expanding locally and abroad as it looked for new opportunities to increases its market share.

Van Tonder said 12 new outlets would be opened across all brands in South Africa while nine new franchised restaurants would be opened in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Namibia, Zimbabwe. He said additional outlets were being planned for Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

The group, which also owns brands such as Panarottis, John Dory’s, The Hussar Grill, Captain DoRegos and RocoMamas, said during its six-month results to December that total sales increased 10.4 percent to R3.8 billion.

“Spur Corporation has a strong portfolio of eight brands trading in the local and selected international markets.

“Our focus in the months ahead will be on driving growth through value promotions, innovative marketing, rewarding customer loyalty, expanding the restaurant base and continuing to offer a high quality, affordable family dining experience,” Van Tonder said.

Spur has already expanded its global restaurant footprint to 590 outlets with the opening of 21 further outlets in South Africa and six in international markets.

The group opened its first restaurants in New Zealand (Spur), Ethiopia (Spur) and Oman (RocoMamas) during the past six months.

In the six months to December, franchised restaurant sales grew by 10.2 percent in South Africa and by 12 percent in rand terms in international restaurants, excluding the impact of the closure of the group’s operations in the UK and Ireland in the previous financial year.