Leading Brands - Famous Brands IAR 2022

Leading brands portfolio: Quick Service

Leading Brands portfolio: Casual Dining

Established in the 1960s in South Africa, Steers is a well-loved hamburger brand known for its legendary 100% pure flame-grilled burgers, hand-cut chips, fresh ingredients and real flavour.

Key developments and initiatives	Areas of focus in 2022
Steers experienced a positive shift in day trading activity with consumers returning to work, including lunch and mid-afternoon activity. Supply chain uncertainty and the rise in input costs, most notably on beef, oil and packaging, impacted the pricing strategy and margins. Steers implemented a margin protection pricing strategy with an average price increase of 5.7%. National promotions were anchored in real customer occasions and were executed through advertising, in-store messaging and online promotions. Wacky Wednesday continues to drive sales activity for online orders and in-restaurant trade. Despite a higher price point, Wacky Wednesday volumes have remained largely intact. Steers amplified its own delivery with promotions on television, social and digital media to grow the remote convenience channel to meet customer demand. The brand continued its strong association with Varsity Cup Rugby to reach the next generation of customers with televised SuperSport games on DSTV. Unfortunately, some games were interrupted due to COVID-19 lockdowns. Steers grew its store footprint by 18 new restaurants and one conversion despite a challenging environment. This included opening five new drive-thrus.	Margin protection through price increases and menu engineering. Growing own delivery channel and leveraging third-party delivery aggregators. Continued the roll-out of self-service terminals and digital screens. Rebuilding restaurant network after July’s unrest.
	Focus for 2023
	Grow delivery on own platform and third-party delivery platforms. Continue to roll out self-service terminals and digital screens across all restaurants. Promotions to entice customers back to breakfast and dinner options. Investment in media spend to support the promotional strategy around clearly articulated customer occasions. Deliver improved profitability for the franchise partners. Continue to push own delivery online offers with exclusive promotions to retain current users and attract new users to the Steers app and own delivery platform. Ensuring the affordability of products is a priority, especially on the Real Value products, including the burger and flame-grilled chicken categories.
	Awards
	Steers received notable mentions achieving 2nd place in Coolest Sauces, Coolest Fast Food Place at 5th place, and 6th place on Coolest Restaurant categories of the Sunday Times Generation Next Awards.

Debonairs Pizza is a market-leading Quick Service Restaurant brand that owes its popularity to an unwavering focus on pizza innovation, cutting edge customer-interactive technology and free home delivery, which it pioneered in 1996.

Key developments and initiatives	Areas of focus in 2022
Sales performance exceeded expectations despite the operating environment. July’s unrest impacted the Debonairs Pizza network, with 63 restaurants closing for a period. By year-end, only six restaurants remained closed. Debonairs Pizza’s online ordering channel continues to grow while call centre volumes decline further. The most significant shift in customer behaviour has been the increase in ordering for in-store collection. Sales on third-party aggregator platforms continued to grow substantially with demand from a high-income customer base who prefer the convenience of an aggregator app, rather than individual brand apps. Demand for larger sharing meals declined while smaller meal-for-one purchases increased. Promoted good value offers, including sharing meals and meal and drink combos. We targeted the home delivery group meal occasion by promoting the exceptional sharing value of our flagship products. The brand continues to drive affinity through its association with soccer, specifically television sponsorships of SABC’s Soccer Laduma and Soccer 411 and expanding its reach to include a sponsorship package that offers full coverage of all DSTV SuperSport soccer tournaments. The brand opened 36 new restaurants with only two restaurant closures.	Grew delivery via third-party aggregators. Upgrading our delivery software. Relaunched the brand website. Marketing campaigns to drive the brand’s value offerings and sharing bundles. Rebuilding restaurant network after July’s unrest.
	Focus for 2023
	Continue to offer customers exceptional value despite inflationary pressures. Recover more costs from delivery given the rising petrol price. Continue to invest in leading consumer-facing technology. All new restaurants will implement self-service terminals. Begin the process of converting all restaurant in-store menus to digital. Rolling out new systems to enable monitoring of order preparation time, introducing measures to reduce order prep time, increase capacity and exceed customer expectations. Continue the national roll-out of new delivery software. Launching a new Debonairs Pizza express container concept to take pizza to communities that cannot easily access our restaurant offering.
	Awards
	Debonairs Pizza was voted the 2nd Coolest Fast Food Brand in the Sunday Times Next Generation Awards 2021. The brand was voted the Most Reputable Fast Food Brand in South Africa in the 2021 Top Companies South Africa Reputation Index. In addition, Debonairs Pizza was acknowledged as the 2nd Most Reputable Company in South Africa, outranking many other major brands. The brand’s advertising received attention, with two of its social media campaigns winning awards at the 2021 Assegai Integrated Marketing Awards, including a Gold Assegai Award for a delivery campaign.

Fishaways is South Africa’s leading Quick Service Restaurant seafood brand, offering uncompromisingly fresh and nutritious seafood-based meals that cater to the discerning and health-conscious consumer.

Key developments and initiatives	Areas of focus in 2022
Fishaways’ performance improved thanks to growing brand awareness and offering the right products and price points. Fishaways was left relatively unscathed by July’s unrest. The brand closed nine stores, and seven of them had reopened by year-end. The customer shift towards family occasions at home resulted in an uptick in sharing meals. The spent per customer dining at the restaurant has increased. The margins have come under pressure due to rising input costs, especially cooking oil and packaging. Take away continues to grow, accelerated by COVID-19. The brand opened six new restaurants	Focus on operational efficiencies to drive bottom-line profitability for franchisees. Maintained a consistent presence on TV promoting value and variety. Invested further in Fishaways own delivery platform with live driver tracking to elevate the consumer experience.
	Focus for 2023
	Special offers on third-party aggregator platforms to drive sampling of fish dishes to expose South Africans to this meal option. Continue to elevate the under 500 calorie menu offerings and exploit the market opportunity for healthier choices. Continue to build the Fishaways brands through advertising campaigns which emphasise the value of fish as a component of a healthy lifestyle. Develop a Fishaways CSI initiative. Continue to leverage and extend the Momentum Multiply partnership.
Awards
Best of Mbombela: Fishaways voted Best Fish and Chips. Best of Bloemfontein: Fishaways voted Best Fish and Chips.

Since the late 1950s, Milky Lane has been a household favourite in SA, serving deliciously decadent ice cream treats and desserts. Popularly known as the “Feelgood Specialists”, this brand is a leader in the indulgence category.

Key developments and initiatives	Areas of focus in 2022
Milky Lane relies on holiday trade and experiences its best-performing periods during Easter and the school holidays during October and December. The sit-down channel remains under pressure, with counter sales making up the bulk of the sales mix. Milky Lane NiceCream Carts continue to support the network through increased turnover via this new channel. Milky Lane currently has 60 NiceCream Carts trading nationally. Continued to grow deliveries through third-party delivery platforms via regular promotions. NiceCream Cakes and NiceCream Stix Bundles continue to perform well. Downloads of the Milky Lane app continue to grow.	Promoted ordering via the Milky Lane app. Expanded delivery via third-party delivery platforms to a national roll-out.
	Focus for 2023
	Continued product innovation and more points of purchase to improve appeal and access for consumers.
	Awards
	Best Ice Cream Shop in Johannesburg in the Star Readers’ Choice Awards. Best Ice Cream Shop in Pretoria in the Star Readers’ Choice Awards.

Since opening in 1996, Mugg & Bean restaurants are known for the spirit of generosity, and the brand’s bottomless coffee, giant muffins and hearty portion sizes. Mugg & Bean is also accessible to customers through various convenient formats, including On The Move, On The Move Limited Service and On The Move Express.

Key developments and initiatives	Areas of focus in 2022
Mugg & Bean’s overall performance continues to be impacted by COVID-19 restrictions and changing consumer behaviour in response to the pandemic. This particularly affects sit-down restaurant trade. The On The Move format, offering convenient coffee and light meals, continues to perform strongly with turnover growth driven by increased foot traffic and new store openings. The July unrest badly impacted the Mugg & Bean brand with 60 restaurants affected, and On The Move restaurants closed at the peak of the unrest. Fortunately, the brand only had one store closed with long-term damage. Restaurants offered trimmed-down menus to support franchisees’ operational efficiencies. However, selective innovation was introduced to attract customers and differentiate the offering from competitors. Menu price increases were kept below food inflation to remain price competitive. Mugg & Bean extended its partnership with Discovery Vitality with direct and indirect benefits to the brand. Mugg & Bean enhanced its online ordering capabilities by allowing franchisees to sign-up for order online customer functionality. Uptake has been positive in the On The Move format where average order value and repeat orders per store are better than walk-in orders. The turnover contribution from third-party delivery continued to grow, however, towards the latter part of the year, this flattened out as sit-down dining numbers improved.	Reduced menus to simplify franchise partners’ operations. Managed menu price increases below food inflation to remain competitive. Cancelled or postponed marketing campaigns that were not essential. Ongoing direct financial and non-financial support to our franchisees to guide them through the challenging year. Increased use of third-party delivery platforms. Rebuilding the restaurant network after July’s unrest.
	Focus for 2023
	Manage menu price increases and monitor margin pressures. Selective innovation in chosen categories to attract customers and drive growth. Work closer with Discovery Vitality to evolve the Mugg & Bean offering and increase communication to Discovery’s customers, including digital integration. Expanding order online capability to sit-down restaurants.

Wimpy is a leading Casual Dining Restaurant and family favourite, built around the idea of “enjoy every moment”. The brand is known for its famous Wimpy coffee, all-day breakfasts, burgers and grills, complemented by a delicious selection of shakes and desserts.

Key developments and initiatives	Areas of focus in 2022
Many customers did not travel over December due to the fear of tighter lockdown restrictions. This particularly impacted airport sites. Wimpy began to steadily recover from November to February compared to pre-COVID-19 levels as vaccination rates increased and fears of COVID-19 subside. Third-party delivery continued to grow strongly. The menu strategy focussed on maintaining food costs through innovation that included cross-utilisation of ingredients and measures to enhance operational efficiencies in the kitchen. In October 2021, Wimpy launched 14 new products to provide customers with good quality and value local flavours. Eight new restaurants have opened, four restaurants were relocated and 13 were refurbished. Wimpy launched order and pay at tables functionality across all restaurants allowing customers to order on the app for sit-down and take away.	Positioning Wimpy as a welcoming, inclusive family restaurant and enhancing the customer experience. Increasing the range of value for money products. Building equity around new CSI initiatives. Investing in consumer-facing technology.
	Focus for 2023
	Roll out self-service terminal units to meet customer expectations of digital and contactless services. Continue to position Wimpy as the inclusive restaurant that welcomes all South Africans. Work is underway to translate the entire menu into all 11 national languages. Enhance franchisee profitability by improving operational efficiencies.
	Awards
	Reach for a Dream Virtual Slipper Week – Orchids Award and Assegai Certificate. Wimpy Engen Summer Campaign – Craft Mention. 2021 Sunday Times Generation Next Awards – 3rd place in the Coolest Brands to Go Out and Eat Category.