List of restaurants in South Africa. A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearance and offerings, including a wide variety of cuisines and service models ranging from inexpensive fast-food restaurants and cafeterias to mid-priced family restaurants, to high-priced luxury establishments.
This is a list of notable restaurants in South Africa.
Burger King
Burger King (BK) is an American multinational chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based restaurant chain. After Insta-Burger King ran into financial difficulties in 1954, its two Miami-based franchisees David Edgerton and James McLamore purchased the company and renamed it “Burger King”.
| Website | https://www.burgerking.co.za/ |
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Over the next half-century, the company changed hands four times, with its third set of owners, a partnership of TPG Capital, Bain Capital, and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, taking it public in 2002. In late 2010, 3G Capital of Brazil acquired a majority stake in the company, in a deal valued at US$3.26 billion. The new owners promptly initiated a restructuring of the company to reverse its fortunes. 3G, along with partner Berkshire Hathaway, eventually merged the company with the Canadian-based doughnut chain Tim Hortons, under the auspices of a new Canadian-based parent company named Restaurant Brands International.
Chicken Licken
Chicken Licken is a South African fast-food fried chicken restaurant chain. The company had a 5% share of South Africa’s fast food market in 2010, tying with McDonald’s. According to a case study published by the Henny Penny Corporation in 2011, Chicken Licken is the “largest non-American-owned fried chicken franchise in the world”.
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Chicken Licken was founded in South Africa by George Sombonos, the son of a Greek immigrant restaurant owner. Sombonos learned the restaurant trade in the 1970s at the Dairy Den, his father’s restaurant in Ridgeway, a suburb in the southern Inner City region of Johannesburg. KFC entered the South African market in 1971. Sombonos bought Chicken Licken’s secret fried chicken recipe from the owner of a fast food outlet in Waco, Texas, for US $1,000 while touring the United States in 1972 and introduced it to the Dairy Den. In 1975 he started serving black customers in their cars when apartheid segregation laws restricted their access to restaurants. In 1976 he introduced the drive-through restaurant concept to the Dairy Den after seeing it at Wendy’s restaurants in the United States.
Dulce Café
Dulce Café is the name of a coffee shop/restaurant chain operating in South Africa. Originating in the city of Port Elizabeth, the company has grown to 53 stores throughout the country.
The Dulce Café story has its origins in Argentina when a young student by the name of Hubert Stempowski had his first taste of ice-cream in a parlour in Buenos Aires. Hubert emigrated to South Africa in 1976 to complete his final year of study in engineering at Wits university. After holding a number of jobs in Johannesburg Hubert dreamed of moving to the more relaxed coastal areas of South Africa.
Dominos pizza
Domino’s Pizza, Inc., doing business as Domino’s, is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain founded in 1960 and led by CEO Richard Allison. The corporation is Delaware domiciled and headquartered at the Domino’s Farms Office Park in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As of 2018, Domino’s had approximately 15,000 stores, with 5,649 in the United States, 1,500 in India, and 1,249 in the United Kingdom. Domino’s has stores in over 83 countries and 5,701 cities worldwide.
| Website | dominos |
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Debonairs Pizza
Debonairs Pizza is a South African based pizza restaurant chain franchise founded in 1991 by Craig MacKenzie and Andrew Harvey. MacKenzie came up with the idea and business model to found the company following a gap-year trip to Los Angeles when he was a student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.[2] The first restaurants were established in Pietermaritzburg, followed by Umhlanga and then Durban. The chain expanded rapidly and was acquired by Famous Brands in 1999.
The company has over 500 restaurants in 14 countries mostly located in Africa including Botswana, Dubai, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia, Sudan, Zambia and Angola . The majority of its 546 (2018) restaurants are located in South Africa with 462 restaurants in the country. As of 2018 Debonair Pizza was the largest pizza chain restaurant in South Africa.
The Hussar Grill
Spur Corporation (doing business as Spur Steak Ranches) (JSE: SUR) is a steakhouse franchise restaurant chain originating from South Africa with a focus on family dining.
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The head office of Spur Corporation is situated in Century City, Cape Town. Although the founding and flagship brand is the Spur steakhouse restaurants, the company owns a number of other, predominantly South African, restaurant brands. Spur Steak Ranches is a themed South African family favourite and is fondly known as “the official restaurant of the South African family”; as such, most Spur restaurants include a children’s play area.
John Dory’s
John Dory’s is committed to sustainable business practice through our Eco Voyage sustainability programme. In collaboration with John Dory’s franchisees and partners, we are making a concerted effort to ensure our Environmental Sustainability Policy is a living reality in our restaurants
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KFC
KFC is the largest fast food chain in South Africa. As of 2021, there are 960 KFC outlets in South Africa, and the fast food chain has more outlets in the country than any other fast food brand. Ten percent of outlets are company owned, and 90 percent are franchise owned.
| Website | kfc.co.za |
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Outlets sell the regional pap dish as well as other dishes unique to their menu in South Africa. South Africa is one of the few countries where KFC does not sell PepsiCo owned soft drinks, due to the company’s historically small presence in the country.
All of the chicken sold is reared in South Africa.
Krispy Kreme
Krispy Kreme, Inc. (previously Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc.) is an American multinational doughnut company and coffeehouse chain.
Krispy Kreme was founded by Vernon Rudolph, who bought a yeast-raised recipe from a New Orleans chef, rented a building in 1937 in what is now historic Old Salem in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and began selling to local grocery stores.
| Website | krispykreme |
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Steady growth preceded an ambitious expansion as a public company in the period 2000 to 2016, which ultimately proved unprofitable. In 2016, the company returned to private ownership under JAB Holding Company, a private Luxembourg-based firm. In July 2021, Krispy Kreme became publicly traded again on the Nasdaq.
McDonald’s
McDonald’s Corporation is an American multinational fast food corporation, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger stand, and later turned the company into a franchise, with the Golden Arches logo being introduced in 1953 at a location in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1955, Ray Kroc, a businessman, joined the company as a franchise agent and proceeded to purchase the chain from the McDonald brothers. McDonald’s had its previous headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, but moved its global headquarters to Chicago in June 2018.
| Website | www.mcdonalds.com corporate |
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McDonald’s is the world’s largest restaurant chain by revenue, serving over 69 million customers daily in over 100 countries across 37,855 outlets as of 2018. Although McDonald’s is best known for its hamburgers, cheeseburgers and french fries, they feature chicken products, breakfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes, wraps, and desserts. The company also added salads, fish, smoothies, and fruit in response to changing consumer tastes and a negative backlash because of the unhealthiness of their food. The McDonald’s Corporation revenues come from the rent, royalties, and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. According to two reports published in 2018, McDonald’s is the world’s second-largest private employer with 1.7 million employees (behind Walmart with 2.3 million employees). As of 2020, McDonald’s has the ninth-highest global brand valuation.
Mugg & Bean
Mugg & Bean is a full-service, & On-The-Move restaurant, coffee-themed franchise restaurant chain originating from South Africa. The restaurant chain was founded in 1996 by Ben Filmalter after a visit to a Chicago coffee shop in the early 1990s inspired him to open a similar restaurant in South Africa. The first restaurant was opened at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town in 1996. The franchise was bought by Famous Brands in 2009.
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As of 2015 they had 184 outlets throughout South Africa and the rest of Africa, as well as a number of overseas operations, including the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
Mzoli’s
Mzoli’s was a butchery in Gugulethu, a township on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa. Since Mzoli’s opened in early 2003, the restaurant had become a popular gathering spot for Cape Town residents and a tourist attraction. Amongst Gugulethu’s residents, Mzoli’s Place has a reputation for public drunkenness and disrespect for the local community. Mzoli’s is named after the founder and owner, Mzoli Ngcawuzele. The restaurant closed indefinitely in May 2021 partly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nando’s
Nando’s is a South African multinational fast food chain that specialises in flame-grilled peri-peri style chicken. Founded in Johannesburg in 1987, Nando’s operates over 1,200 outlets in 30 countries.
Their logo depicts the Rooster of Barcelos, one of Portugal‘s most common symbols. Fernando Duarte and his friend Robert Brozin are the founders of the first Nando’s bought a restaurant previously called “Chickenland” and renamed it Nando’s. They opened it in 1987. By 2018, there were 340 Nando’s restaurants throughout its home market of South Africa.
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News Cafe
News Cafe is a full-service cafe-bar and cocktail franchise restaurant chain founded in South Africa since 1995. The first News Cafe opened in 1995 in Hatfield, Pretoria, shortly after the lifting of sanctions against South Africa signalled the entry of overseas hospitality franchises such as McDonald’s into the South African food service market. In 2009 the first News Cafe was opened in India, followed by the second early in 2010.
The News Cafe brand is owned by the operating company Fournews headquartered in Edenvale (Ekurhuleni); it has branches across southern Africa, including a News Cafe in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Gaborone, Botswana and in Ndola, Zambia.
Panarottis
Since 1990, we have been welcoming famiglie into our home, inviting them to enjoy our Italian-inspired pizza and pasta favorito! Today, we continue that legacy in more than 121 restaurants here in Africa and Australia!
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and desserts.
The chain has 17,639 restaurants worldwide as of 2020, making it the world’s largest pizza chain by number of locations. It is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., one of the world’s largest restaurant companies.
| Website | pizzahut |
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Popeyes
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc., also known as Popeyes and formerly named Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits and Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken & Biscuits, is an American multinational chain of fried chicken fast food restaurants that was founded in 1972 in New Orleans, Louisiana and headquartered in Miami, Florida.
It is currently a subsidiary of Toronto-based Restaurant Brands International. As of 2020 Popeyes has 3,451 restaurants, which are located in more than 46 states and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 30 countries worldwide. About 30 locations are company-owned; the vast remainder are franchised.
| Website | www.popeyes.com |
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Roman’s Pizza
Roman’s Pizza is a South African-based pizza restaurant chain franchise founded in 1993. Originally named Little Caesar’s when it was founded by Arthur Nicolakakis in Pretoria. The chain was rebranded in 2002 and renamed Roman’s Pizza. The company is known for its two for one pizza promotions with a business model that seeks to minimize prices whilst maintaining quality.
The company’s CEO John Nicolakakis was involved in a minor controversy in 2018 when he was recorded making threatening remarks about rival pizza restaurant chains stating that he would “burn them down” and “go to war with them”.
The company had to issue an apology to a Durban-based franchisee in 2015 and pay R200,000 for refusing to allow the franchisee to open a halaal franchise. The given reason at the time for the refusal was that the franchisee was not Muslim
RocoMamas
Email: troubleshoot@rocomamas.co.za
14 Edison Way, Century City, Cape Town, 7441 | 0860 888 772
The Radium Beerhall
The Radium Beerhall claims to be the oldest surviving bar and grill house in Johannesburg. It is located on the corner of Louis Botha Avenue and 9th Street in Orange Grove. Long-established, buzzing bar & grill, offering steaks, pizzas, pastas and salads, plus live jazz.
Address: District of Freedom, #8573311##, 282 Louis Botha Ave, Orange Grove, Johannesburg, 2192, South Africa
Phone: +27 11 728 3866
Website: http://www.theradium.co.za/
Originally The Radium, as it is also known, was a tea room owned by the Kalil family, when it opened in 1929. Thirteen years later, it acquired a Malt and liquor license and became a beerhall. During the first few years, it was notorious for illegally selling alcohol to black patrons in a white district.
Today, it is still a popular destination and arguably the only attraction to Orange Grove since its decline post 1994. It is regularly used as a filming destination for programs as well as advertisements.
The bar itself is over 100 years old and was the original bar from the Ferreirasdorp Hotel, in the city centre. The bar was relocated to the radium during the Second World War when the hotel was demolished to build the magistrates court’s .
Steers
Steers is one of South Africa’s most recognizable quick-service restaurant brands. The company is well known for serving burgers and chips. Other menu items include chicken burgers, ribs as well as ice cream and milkshakes.
| Website | Steers.co.za |
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he history of the company revolves around the Halamandaris family, whose family members are still part of the executive team today, with extensive experience in the food and franchising industries.
Steers founder, George Halamandress had a vision to create a successful family-run business and the idea for Steers originated while he was on holiday in the United States where he came across innovative food industry concepts and ideas. He decided to bring these new food industry methods to South Africa, which was the starting point for the creation of a brand that would grow from strength to strength.
Uncle George, as he was affectionately known, created the original Milky Lane ice cream parlours, followed in quick succession by the first South African steakhouse (the Rosebank Golden Spur), the Seven Steers steakhouse in Highlands North and the Black Steer in Yeoville in the early 1960s. He was also one of the first entrepreneurs to bring the franchising concept to South Africa.
Subway
Subway is an American multi-national fast food restaurant franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches (subs), wraps, salads and beverages. Subway was founded by 17 year old Fred DeLuca and financed by Peter Buck in 1965 as Pete’s Super Submarines in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The restaurant was renamed Subway two years later, and a franchise operation began in 1974 with a second restaurant in Wallingford, Connecticut. Since then, it has expanded to become a global franchise.
| Website | subway.com |
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Subway serves an array of topping choices, allowing the customer to choose which toppings are included in their sandwich. The longtime Subway slogan, “Eat Fresh”, is intended to indicate the fresh ingredients that are used in their sandwiches.
It was the fastest-growing franchise in the world in 2015 and, as of June 2021, had 37,540 locations in more than 100 countries and territories. More than half its locations (21,796 or 58.1%) are in the United States. It also is the largest single-brand restaurant chain, and the largest restaurant operator, in the world. Its international headquarters are in Milford, Connecticut.
Vida e Caffè
Vida e Caffè is a privately-owned coffee shop franchise and supplier of beverage products in South Africa. The name vida e caffè mixes Spanish or Portuguese for ‘life’ with Italian for ‘and coffee’.
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vida e caffè opened their first shop on Kloof Street, Cape Town, in October 2001. As of March 2020, including over 100 stores in the Western Cape province, 100 in Gauteng, 20 in KwaZulu-Natal and 70 across the rest of South Africa. The brand also has 13 stores in Ghana, four in Mauritius and two in Zambia.
As of May 2020, they have 350 stores; 330 throughout South Africa and 20 on the rest of the African continent. A number of the stores are micro-operations located within business office spaces to cater office workers. The presence of the company, its market share, and relatively low franchise costs have been noted as a reason why the American multinational coffee company Starbucks has had limited success in expanding in South Africa. The company has a partnership with the South African branch of Shell to sell coffee at its petrol stations across the country.
Wimpy
Wimpy is a fast-food chain originally founded in the United States. It found its success internationally, mainly in the United Kingdom and South Africa. It has changed between being a table-service establishment and counter-service establishment throughout its history.
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The chain was founded in Bloomington, Indiana by Edward Gold in 1934 as Wimpy Grills, with the chain in the United States hitting its peak with 26 locations in 1947. In 1954, Gold signed a license with J. Lyons and Co. for them to operate Wimpy Bar across the United Kingdom, with further international agreements a few years later through its subsidiary company, Wimpy International. By 1977, there were only seven Wimpy locations in the United States, which all folded following Gold’s passing in that year. Despite the brand’s demise domestically, the chain would peak at 1,500 international locations the following year.
