Leading brands - Famous Brands IAR 2023

Performance and focus areas

Leading Brands’ system-wide sales improved by 13.9%, and like-for-like sales increased by 12.3%. This growth can be attributed to its portfolio of compelling brands, continued investment in technology and a return to sit-down dining. The marketplace remains competitive as competitors defend their market share.

The removal of COVID-19 restrictions slowed down the growth of the home delivery channel as consumers returned to sit-down dining and take away orders. However, home delivery remains a notable channel thanks to a long-term shift in consumer behaviour towards e-commerce. Leading Brands continued to strengthen its strategic partnerships with third-party delivery aggregators. Collect ordering continued to show positive growth as consumers continued to use this channel post the pandemic.

Casual Dining Restaurants experienced a strong recovery as consumers spent more time in restaurants. The performance of our sit-down sites, especially major airport sites, contributed significantly to this category’s turnover recovery. The royalty relief to Casual Dining franchise partners in South Africa has eased relative to the need during the pandemic and is now applied on a selective basis.

All brands had to manage menu price increases carefully to balance protecting franchise partner profitability while offering value to consumers in an inflationary environment. This required careful price management and robust negotiations with suppliers.

Read more about our investment in consumer-facing technology and our brands’ CSI activities.

Leading Brands portfolio: Quick Service

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

Focus areas for 2023	Grow delivery on own platform and third-party delivery platforms. Roll out self-service terminals and digital screens across all restaurants. Offer promotions to entice consumers back to breakfast and dinner options. Invest in media spend to support the promotional strategy around clearly articulated consumer occasions. Deliver improved profitability for our franchise partners. Attract new consumers to the Steers app and own delivery platform. Ensure that products are affordable, especially for Real Value products, including burgers and flame-grilled chicken categories.
Key developments and initiatives	In line with the strategy to increase convenience and access, 3 new drive thru restaurants were opened, increasing the number to 44 restaurants. The shift in consumer behaviour towards convenience and e-commerce continued to drive both own delivery and third-party aggregator activity. The Steers sit-down format continues to struggle since the pandemic. Steers rolled out self-service terminals, positively impacting the average order value where these have been implemented. To address the need for a diverse menu and affordable chicken offerings, Steers maintain aggressive pricing on key value items, including the full and quarter chicken meals. Steers is trialling a Steers Fried Chicken concept as a clip-on restaurant to an existing Debonairs Pizza outlet. The brand ran several succession promotions for Real Value product offerings.
Awards	Best of Ekurhuleni 2022 for Best Chips. Best of Joburg 2022 for Best Chips. Best of Bloemfontein 2022 for Best Chips. Best of Pretoria 2022 for Best Chips and Best Takeaway Burger.
Focus areas for 2024	Address the need for affordability through value offerings. Invest in growing the own delivery channel. Open more drive thru sites to meet consumer demand for convenience and access. Continue to roll out digital menus throughout the network. Build on the brand sponsorship with Varsity Cup, including a strong focus on vending at viable university sites. The brand has planned promotions for the Varsity Cup season to target university students.

Debonairs Pizza is a market-leading brand that owes its popularity to an ongoing focus on pizza innovation, generosity, quality ingredients and free home delivery, which it first introduced in 1996.

Focus areas for 2023	Offer consumers exceptional value despite inflationary pressures. Recover more costs from delivery given the rising petrol price. Invest in technology to support the consumer experience and operational efficiencies. Support our own delivery channel and strengthen partnerships with third-party food delivery aggregators.
Key developments and initiatives	Counter sales were stimulated by promoting our Real Deal range, targeting the cash-strapped consumer for the take away occasion. We developed a home delivery group meal occasion offering featuring the flagship Cram-Decker Pizza, followed by a limited-time offer for the well-loved Triple-Decker and Triple-Decker Topped Pizzas. We launched a new Debonairs Pizza express container concept to take pizza to communities that cannot easily access our restaurant option. Debonairs Pizza franchise partners launched two additional delivery hubs to serve the delivery channel and decrease delivery costs per drop. The brand began rolling out kitchen display systems to monitor order prep time and put in measures to reduce preparation time, increase capacity and exceed consumer expectations. By year-end, 42% of the network had this system, with a significant reduction in preparation times. Some restaurants have implemented self-service terminals to give consumers an alternative ordering method. We began converting all restaurant in-store menus to digital menu boards. The brand updated its delivery software to improve efficiencies and remove operational complexities. Drivers are more efficient and delivery time has been reduced.
Awards	Voted Platinum in the Pizza Take Away Category at the 2022 City Press Readers’ Choice Awards. Debonairs Pizza was a finalist in the 2022 Sunday Times GenNext Awards. The brand was a top three industry finalist at the Ask Africa Orange Index Award. The Spiceroni Pizza received the 2022 South African BASES Menu Innovation Awards. The awards, sponsored by NielsenIQ, showcase the year’s best new menu items. After reviewing more than 70 new submissions, 20 items met the requirements for being relevant and innovative, and the Spiceroni Pizza was included in this list.
Focus areas for 2024	Grow the brand by offering exceptional value and product innovation. Invest in technology to enable growth and efficiencies. Implement the second version of our driver application to promote the right driver behaviour and ensure a consistent consumer experience. Continue the roll-out of digital menu boards.

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

Focus areas for 2023	Provide special offers on third-party aggregator platforms to drive sampling of fish dishes to expose South Africans to this meal option. Elevate the under 500-calorie menu offerings and exploit the market opportunity for healthier choices. Continue to build the Fishaways brands through advertising campaigns that emphasise the value of fish as a component of a healthy lifestyle.
Key developments and initiatives	The menu pricing changed four times this year compared to twice yearly. This was due to pricing pressures across hake, oil and packaging. Responded to the needs of price-sensitive consumers by offering value meals and sharing promotions. Increasing the number of restaurants that offer own delivery and third-party food delivery aggregators. By year-end, 95% of the network offers delivery. Five delivery hubs have been established in Gauteng, one in Bloemfontein and two in Limpopo. The delivery experience has improved, translating into fewer consumer complaints and improved reviews. We continued to leverage and extend the Momentum Multiply partnership.
Focus areas for 2024	Ensuring a profitable and sustainable business model for our franchise partners without compromising the value and quality of products offered. Exploring future sources of brand growth, including a trial sushi offering and an elevated eat-in experience at selected sites. Encouraging our franchise partners to source alternative power to cope with higher levels of load shedding.

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

Focus areas for 2023	Provide innovative products and more points of purchase to improve appeal and access for consumers. Grow delivery via third-party food aggregators.
Key developments and initiatives	The brand benefits from increased consumer activity at its entertainment complex and major mall sites. Grew our impulse category by introducing NiceCream Tubz and new flavours. Launched 19 new mobile cart sites, giving us a total of 80 mobile carts nationwide. Our mobile carts have allowed our franchise partners to sell products at school events, flee markets and festivals. In 2023, Milky Lane had a presence at Comic Con Johannesburg, the Festival of Motoring and the Waterkloof Airshow.
Focus areas for 2024	Grow the brand through the hub and spoke model of restaurants and mobile carts. Entice consumers with new products and promotions.

Leading Brands portfolio: Casual Dining

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

Focus areas for 2023	Managing menu price increases and monitoring margin pressures. Innovating in chosen categories to attract consumers and drive growth. Working closer with Discovery Vitality to evolve the Mugg & Bean offering and increase communication with Discovery’s consumers, including digital integration. Expanding order online capability to sit-down restaurants.
Key developments and initiatives	The On-The-Move smaller format remains popular, and we opened three more restaurants, bringing the total to 100. Partnered by chef and food activist Mokgadi Itsweng to introduce new plant-based meals to our menus, which have been well-received by consumers. Read more here. We experienced a significant increase in registrations and regular usage of our loyalty app, with pleasing growth in monthly user spend at restaurants. Introduced a coffee subscription on our loyalty app where consumers can buy 10 or 15 cups per month in advance and save significantly on each cup. In partnership with Discovery Vitality, we expanded our range of HealthyDining meals to our sit-down menu. We introduced an order ahead and collect feature on our loyalty app to expand our range of convenient ordering options.
Awards	Winner in the 2022 BASES Menu Innovation Awards for our Smoked Trout Open Sandwich. Named a Top 3 Coolest Restaurant in the 2022 Sunday Time Gen Next Awards. Winner in the Fresh Ground Coffee, Coffee Pods or Capsules Category for the 2022/2023 Ask Africa Icon Brand Survey. Top three in Category for Consumer Experience in the Ask Africa Orange Index Awards 2022/2023. Our partnership with Cupcakes for Hope won the Best Non-Profit Campaign in the 2022 Assegai Awards.
Focus areas for 2024	Manage menu price increases carefully. Expand our partnership with Discovery Vitality by introducing HealthyDining into our On-The-Move format. Continue to promote and enhance our loyalty app.

Wimpy is a leading Casual Dining Restaurant and family favourite, built around consumers “enjoying 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.

Focus areas for 2023	Positioning Wimpy as the inclusive restaurant that welcomes all South Africans. Translating the entire menu into all 11 national languages. Enhancing franchise partner profitability by improving operational efficiencies.
Key developments and initiatives	As COVID-19 restrictions were removed, consumers returned to sit-down dining. Despite difficult market conditions, four new standard restaurants and two mobile formats have opened. We relocated four restaurants and completed nine refurbishments. Experienced strong traction on our Wimpy app ordering channel. Order and pay at table is across all restaurants, allowing consumers to order on the app for both sit‑down and takeaway. We have begun rolling out self-service terminal units to meet consumer expectations of digital and contactless services. We continued to deliver against a simple and focused menu innovation plan. The summer menu launched in November 2022 included 13 new menu items and a new iced coffee category.
Awards	Best Breakfast in PTA News. 2022 Top 10 for Kanta’s Best TV ad for the commercial “now that’s classic”. 2022 Pendoring Awards: awarded two Silver Awards for the Best Integrated Campaign and for the Best Integrated Website Tool as par of the “I love it when you #TalkLocal” campaign.
Focus areas for 2024	Positioning Wimpy as a family restaurant that welcomes all South Africans. Enhancing the consumer experience through technology. Promoting our value for money products and kids’ value proposition. Ensuring we have the appropriate formats and channels to drive convenience and accessibility. Ensuring our franchise partners’ profitability by improving operational efficiencies, including energy efficiencies.