Founded in the 1960s by george halamandres, Famous Brands has grown to become Africa’s largest restaurant franchisor, known for its world class brands and reputation as a responsible franchisor.
The Group’s origins date back to the early 1960s, when the Halamandres and Halamandaris family business comprising only the Steers brand, and a limited supply chain was founded. Today, our enterprise consists of an extensive portfolio of brands, a vertically integrated business model with trading operations in three continents. In 1994, the Steers Holdings company listed on the JSE in the Travel and Leisure sector.
Our business model comprises four core pillars: Brands, Manufacturing, Logistics, and Retail. Under the Brand’s pillar, Famous Brands operates franchised, master-licenced, and Company-owned restaurants.
We use full business format franchising, in which our franchise partners use the franchisor’s entire business concept, including the name, trademarks, copyright, know-how, and other intellectual property. We manage and protect our brands and provide our franchise partners with ongoing support to ensure that they deliver consistent brand experiences.
Famous Brands earns sales-based royalties income (franchise fees revenue) based on a percentage of these restaurant turnovers. Therefore, based on our business model, our customer is the franchise partner.
Our key milestones
- In 1963, the first Seven Steer opened in Highlands North, Johannesburg.
- The first Steers franchised restaurant opened in 1965.
- Lists on the JSE in 1994 under the name Steers Holdings Limited at the initial public offer price of R1.
- Acquired the Debonairs Pizza brand in 1997.
- Launched the Fishaways brand in 1998.
- In 2003, acquired Wimpy SA.
- In 2004, Steers Holdings Limited was renamed Famous Brands Limited.
- Acquired the Wimpy UK brand in 2007.
- Acquired the Mugg & Bean brand in 2009.
- Acquired the Milky Lane brand in 2011.
- Became a Level 2 B-BBEE contributor in 2023.
Our Brands pillar
Our portfolio of 16 world class brands offer an attractive business proposition to our franchise partners and quality menus to a wide spectrum of consumers. The portfolio is segmented into Leading (mainstream) Brands and Signature (niche) Brands.
Leading Brands is further categorised as Quick Service and Casual Dining. Quick Service restaurants prioritise take away and delivery offerings with smaller sit-down areas, while Casual Dining offers a full-service, sit-down experience. Our Signature Brands offer a wide range of Casual Dining offerings.
Our restaurant network
- 16 restaurant brands.
- 2 914 restaurants 2 778 Leading Brands and 136 Signature Brands.
- A presence in 18 countries.
- 2 552 restaurants in SA.
- 207 restaurants in SADC.
- 92 restaurants in AME.
- 63 restaurants in the UK.
Our vertically integrated Supply Chain
The concept of vertical integration has been key to the Group’s success since the first central kitchen opened in Market Street, Johannesburg, in 1971. Our back-end operations support our front-end brands.
Our Supply Chain refers to our Manufacturing, Logistics and Retail operations. The primary goal of our Supply Chain is to offer our franchise partners a competitive advantage through efficient supply, price certainty, product innovation and margin management. Our Manufacturing and Logistics operations support our Brands in SA, selected SADC and the AME countries. The Manufacturing, Logistics and Retail businesses are managed and measured in line with our Group’s strategic objectives.
Our 11 Manufacturing plants are wholly owned or partly owned subsidiaries. We own:
- Meat, serviette, sauce and spice, plant-based foods and ice cream plants in Gauteng.
- A potato products plant in the Western Cape.
We have majority shareholding in:
- Cater Chain (Meat products).
- Famous Brands Coffee Company (Coffee products).
- Famous Brands Cheese Company (Cheese).
- TruBev (Juice).
- Turn n Tender (Meat products).
Our internal Logistics capability ensures that restaurants and retail outlets receive ingredients and products.
Our strong procurement capabilities ensure that we secure competitive pricing for commodities.
Our Logistics footprint includes:
- Six distribution centres, two in Gauteng, the Western Cape, Free State, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal supported by three cross dock facilities in the Eastern Cape, Polokwane and Mpumalanga.
- A fleet of 97 trucks, supported by 34 owner-driver businesses and external logistics partners.
- Export capabilities to selected SADC and AME markets.
Our Retail products are produced in our Manufacturing plants and distributed using our Logistics infrastructure.
We sell condiments (sauces, dressings, spices), frozen meat products, coffee (ground and beans), frozen potato chips and other value-added products to major South African retailers.
Our retail offering of 188 products is available in 2 280 retail outlets.