South Africa’s most popular pizza chain opening a new outlet every other week

The restaurant chain’s history dates back to 1991 when Craig MacKenzie and Andrew Harvey opened the first Debonairs Pizza restaurant at Park Lane Spar in Pietermaritzburg.

From the first day, the company offered free delivery, the first to do so in South Africa, with it done in style, wearing a tux and a bow tie.

In 1996, it became part of the Steers Group, which became Famous Brands, Africa’s leading branded food service company.

The company saw its first international expansion when it opened a location in Manzini, Eswatini.

In 2005, the company opened its 200th restaurant, a massive expansion in just over a decade and a half. 

By 2010, the company went online, offering online and mobile ordering. This was a first for any pizza brand in Africa.

The company continued to grow strongly, opening its 700th restaurant in 2020. Despite a challenging economic environment over the last five years, the brand has still expanded.

There were 27 new Debonair locations added over the financial year ending 28 February 2025, meaning that one store is being opened roughly every two weeks.

The new expansion increases its total restaurant network to 868 locations across 16 markets.

This makes Debonairs comfortably the largest brand within the famous brands category, with over 100 more locations than its former parent brand, Steers.

Famous Brands opened 153 new restaurants over the period. However, this was not constant across all its brands, with only Debonairs, Steers, Mugg and Bean and Milky Lane all seeing expansions.

Wimpy, Fishaways, the Burger Chain, Mr Biggs and its signature brands all saw store closures over the period. 

Famous Brands going strong

Famous Brands’ Leading brands portfolio is segmented into Quick Service and Casual Dining brands, and features Steers, Mugg & Bean, Wimpy, Debonairs, and Milky Lane.

The company’s Signature brands are more upmarket locations and include Lupa, Mythos, Paul, Salsa Mexican Grill, Turn ‘n Tender, Vovo Telo, and House of Coffees.

With its Leading brands seeing an overall store number increase, Famous Brands has seen a strong performance over the years.

Famous Brands restuls for the year through February 2025, highlighted a strong performance from the group.

The company’s revenue increased by 3.23% to R8.28 billion, while its cost of sales increased by 2.10% to R4.74 billion.

Its operating profit increased by 12.57% to R913.97 million, while its total profit for the year ended R584.56 million, up 20.85%.

The company’s basic earnings per share rose by just under 20% to 457 cents per share and grew to 547 cents per share.

Most of the company’s income in the 2025 financial year came from its South African operations, which contributed R7.63 billion to total revenue and made up the majority of the operating profit of R516 million.

On top of its store closures, the Signature brands segment swung to an operating loss in the year, dropping from an operating profit of R8.92 million in 2024 to R9.19 million in 2025.

Nevertheless, the group still upped its dividend by a massive 14.2% to 345 cents per share. 

Issued on BusinessTech by Staff Writer | https://businesstech.co.za/news/business-opinion/826856/south-africas-most-popular-pizza-chain-opening-a-new-outlet-every-other-week/