Earlier this month, South Africa moved from level 5 to level 4 of the coronavirus lockdown.
Level 4 came as a bit more relaxed stage of the lockdown, which allowed other things that were banned in level 5 to be permitted, and amongst those things was the opening of restaurants - but for delivery only.
While some restaurants were happy about going back to business, many chose to not open, including Nando's, which said it will not open its stores due to being restricted by the government to delivery only and being limited to curfew hours.
"Opening for delivery only will lose Nando’s and our franchise partners more money than being closed. We are focused on preserving the jobs of our thousands of employees into the future and can’t add to the already enormous weekly losses we’re suffering,” said Mike Cathie, CEO of Nando’s South Africa, in a statement at the time.
But three days into level 4, the chicken chain took to social media to announce that it is back in business but cannot confirm when they will be reopening fully as they are still seeking clarification from the National Council.
Fellow South Africans, we aren’t yet able to confirm when we'll be reopening fully as we are seeking clarification from National Council. In the interim, check the news section on our site for select restaurants that are delivering: https://t.co/SFC0h4yDo7
— NandosSA (@NandosSA) May 4, 2020
We’ll keep you posted.
According to their website, 21 of Nando’s restaurants were opened through their franchise partners.
In an interview on The Money Show on Radio 702 with host Bruce Whitfield this week on why Nando’s has been slow in opening their restaurants for delivery, chief marketing manager of Nando’s SA Doug Place said that they made a decision to open 15 stores and dedicated it to a relief effort. He added that they embarked on a campaign called the Streetwise Periperi McBurger with their 'frenemies' McDonald's and KFC to open up for relief efforts.
Place said that they fed over 50-thousand people and dedicated around 400 staff around the country to do that.
“We're thrilled to partner with the Solidarity Fund which the president mentioned in his speech last night - currently if you go to our website and buy a gift voucher we will take ten times the value of that gift voucher and pay towards the Solidarity fund who is set up principally to address the major issues around Covid-19,” he said.