Our Signature Brands portfolio comprises a range of bespoke Casual Dining offerings. There are 145 Signature Brands restaurants in South Africa and one Zambia-based Turn ‘n Tender. Except for PAUL1, a subsidiary, Signature Brands are 100% owned by Famous Brands. The Group operates 9 Company-owned stores within the Signature Brands portfolio.
| 1 | Licensed brand by PAUL International. |
Signature Brands has segmented its portfolio into the following three categories:
Fun Dining
Mythos is a contemporary Greek restaurant with a traditional spirit, serving well-loved dishes and modern cuisine in a stylish Mediterranean setting. The authentic dining experience is infused with the customary Greek passion for life.
With a strong Roman influence, LUPA Osteria offers modern yet traditional neighbourhood Italian food in a warm, welcoming environment. From our pasta and sauces to our pizza bases, everything is made from scratch by our talented chefs.
In 1977, four brothers with a love for the finest steak opened their first Turn ‘n Tender restaurant, a traditional South African steakhouse. Decades later, the brand has become a destination for discerning lovers of steak, ribs, burgers and fine wine in a contemporary setting.
SALSA serves authentic Mexican food prepared traditionally, with an unconventional twist. The cuisine is complemented by craft tequilas, beers and a dining experience that epitomises vibrant and welcoming Mexican entertainment.
Lexi’s Healthy Eatery is a mostly plant-based, whole-food restaurant brand (the brand has chicken and free range eggs on the menu). The brand strives for the most sustainable, conscious and nutritious eating. This includes limiting the use of plastic, sourcing locally and ethically and promoting delicious plant-based options.
Captive Markets
Vovo Telo is a specialist artisan bakery synonymous with excellence in craft baking, mouth-watering breakfasts and lunches and perfectly brewed coffee. The brand uses local artisanal products, supporting producers who share its respect for quality and integrity.
Fego Caffé offers café-style dining, delicious light meals, sweet treats and unparalleled coffee. With the finest beans sourced from South America and Africa, the brand is the connoisseur’s choice for an extraordinary coffee experience.
Coffee Couture is a specialty coffee shop brand in Mediclinic hospitals nationwide. Coffee Couture’s offering comprises tasty meals complemented by a creative coffee offering. The brand also offers a range of gifts and other convenience retail items.
Our bespoke NetCafé brand was created to cater to the Netcare Group’s hospital staff, patients, and visitors. The brand offering comprises a full sit-down menu, a deli section and a retail convenience outlet. Netcare operates the largest private hospital business in South Africa..
Luxury
Founded in 1889 in France, PAUL1 is an internationally renowned fifth-generation family-owned artisanal bakery-café chain. The brand’s traditional French offering is served in trademark chic restaurants, complemented by crafted baked products. Famous Brands holds the licence agreement for PAUL in South Africa.
| 1 | Licensed brand by PAUL International. |
Trading conditions in 2023
The sit-down restaurant industry faces macro-economic headwinds, including fuel price increases, food inflation, load shedding and restrained consumer spending. Lifting all COVID-19 restrictions in June 2022 boosted restaurant activity, with consumers returning to restaurants, improved evening trade and strong alcohol sales. As the year progressed, interest rate hikes and fuel price increases began to eat into disposable income and affected restaurant trade. These trading conditions remain unfavourable for attracting new potential franchise partners.
On a positive perspective, many landlords now offer lease terms and conditions more favourable to tenants. In addition, strategic, hard-to-secure restaurant sites have emerged, and Signature Brands capitalised on this. This includes two sites at The Victoria and Alfred Waterfront for PAUL and Mythos.
Performance and focus areas
Signature Brands showed a strong recovery in sales growth over the past year. Like-for-like sales were up by 29.4%, while system-wide sales were up by 27.6%. Operating margins improved to 4% (2022: -5.3%).
Signature Brands offer streamlined menus to simplify restaurant operations and manage gross profit margins. This has also allowed restaurants to flex their staffing needs down in lower turnover environments. In 2023, we closed 20 restaurants.
In 2022, we announced our intention to develop Quick Service Restaurant formats within the Fun Dining category. This plan was shelved as the market conditions were not right to launch new ventures.
Fun Dining
The Fun Dining category enjoyed a strong start to 2023 as consumers returned to restaurants to celebrate special occasions. Weaker post-COVID-19 trading conditions led to nine unplanned restaurant closures, impacting the overall performance of the Fun Dining category.
Famous Brands acquired a 51% shareholding in Lexi’s Healthy Eatery in April 2022. We plan to grow the brand’s footprint while cautiously exploring opportunities to offer more plant-based options in other brands’ menus and our Retail range. The design work was completed for Lexi’s Healthy Eatery central kitchen for small batch manufacturing of plant-based products for restaurants and Retail and the building commenced in September 2022. The new facility opened in March 2023.
Captive Markets
In the Captive Markets category, NetCafé and Coffee Couture recovered strongly as hospitals lifted COVID-19-related visitor hour restrictions. Doctor visits and related medical services have resumed to pre-pandemic levels, lifting foot traffic in hospitals.
Vovo Telo restaurants are mostly located in local residential malls. Their strong coffee, breakfast and lunch offerings meant they performed well, almost reaching pre-COVID sales.
Fego Caffé continues to underperform. In 2023, we closed three Fego Caffé restaurants.
Luxury
The PAUL restaurants continue to impress, with sit-down, take away and delivery sales performing well. This is operated through a subsidiary with seasoned restaurant operators. The restaurants have strong day trading attributes and have attracted a regular consumer base. Progress has been made in refining the business model, improving gross margins and achieving the right ratios of salaries to turnover. The brand experienced a few global supply chain delays with materials imported directly from France.
The 6th PAUL restaurant opened at a prime site in the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in May 2023.
Supporting our franchise partners
Famous Brands continued its COVID-19 support strategy across the Signature Brands portfolio using a sliding scale model.
Significant time was spent supporting our franchise partners to resolve long-standing rental arrears. It remains an ongoing challenge for our franchise partners to settle arrear payments with landlords, negatively impacting cash flow and their ability to re-invest in their restaurants.
| Awards in 2023 | |
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Turn ‘n Tender 3 Best of Joburg – Best Steakhouse |
SALSA 2 Best of Pretoria – Best Mexican Restaurant |
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Mythos 1 Best of Joburg – Best Greek Restaurant |
Lexi’s 2 Best of Joburg – Best Vegan Restaurant |
Focus for 2024
Our focus areas for 2024 include growing selected brands in South Africa and capitalising on good sites becoming available at attractive rentals. Improving franchise partner profitability and the sustainability of restaurants remains a priority. We will strive to manage double-digit food inflation while keeping menu pricing competitive.
