Cape Town - Capetonians braved the rains on Wednesday to get the first bite of Southern Fried Chicken during the opening of the British brand’s first store in South Africa.
The fast-food chain company said the opening of the store in Long Street showed the brand’s commitment to investing in South Africa and the rest of the continent.
The firm’s chicken is locally sourced from County Fair.
Southern Fried Chicken chairman Andrew Withers said Cape Town would be the test market for the brand.
Withers said another store would be opened in the city in the next three months and the roll-out plan to other parts of the country would be finalised within a year.
“We are going to invest in Cape Town over the next 12 months to refine our operation before we expand to other regions.”
Withers said each outlet cost about R5 million to open and would employ nearly 30 people.
“Our growth plan is all over Africa. We just opened stores in Senegal, Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana and would also like to go to many other neighbouring countries. Africa has great potential for growth.”
He said the brand also had a strong market in Russia.
Withers said he was not worried about competition from other chicken franchises in the country.
“The quality of our dishes proves that another chicken franchise in South Africa is indeed a necessity. We go back to the old-school way of ensuring that chicken is the ‘hero’ of every dish on our menu.
“The quality and goodness of our chicks make us standout. We use only real, fresh chicken, prepared in a good honest way.”
The menu boasts fresh halaal dishes in lemon and herb, mango and lime, peri peri with menu items ranging from succulent burgers to bucket deals and wraps prepared in the signature fried method, or grilled to juicy perfection.