Iconic brands rolling out restaurants across South Africa

Fast-food giant Famous Brands continued to expand its footprint in the first half of the 2026 financial year, with 59 new restaurants opened.

Famous Brands is a restaurant conglomerate with a staple of 15 brands spread across a franchise network of over 3,000 restaurants.

The company has a presence in South Africa, the Southern African Development Community, the Rest of Africa, the Middle East, and the United Kingdom.

Some of its most well-known brands include Steers, Mugg & Bean, Wimpy, Debonairs, Milky Lane and Fishaways.

The company’s brands are divided into two segments – Leading Brands, which include quick service and casual dining restaurants, and Signature Brands, which house its more niche, premium brands.

On Wednesday, 22 October, Famous Brands released its results for the six months through August 2025, which revealed a strong performance for the company’s Leading Brands, in particular.

As a group, the company saw its revenue grow by 5.6% to R4.24 billion, while its cost of sales rose by 4.8% to R2.43 billion.

Famous Brands made a total profit of R260.07 million for the six-month period, up over 10% from the first half of its 2025 financial year. The company’s basic earnings grew by 6.79% to 236 cents per share. 

In addition, it opened 59 new restaurants across the group and closed 20, bringing the total network to 3,008 restaurants. 

The company said these strong results came despite a challenging operating environment, as consumers were more resilient than expected.

Famous Brands said its results benefited from several tailwinds, including easing inflation, interest rate cuts and increased return-to-office traffic, which boosted restaurant activity.

From a segmental perspective, the company’s Leading Brands performed exceptionally well, with sales up 6%, boosted by an uptick in local tourism and increased traffic from return-to-office mandates.

The company said its quick-service restaurant brands performed especially strongly due to their competitive value offerings, successful promotions and prudent cost management.

This segment opened 53 new restaurants in the period, revamped 103 locations and closed 10 restaurants. The company said 27.8% of these new restaurants were allocated to existing franchise partners.

“We expanded our footprint of smaller restaurant formats and drive-thrus to meet consumer demand for convenience,” it said. 

“Pleasing revamp activity demonstrates franchise partners’ trust in our brands and willingness to reinvest in their businesses.”

The company’s Signature Brands did not perform as well as expected, with sales down 0.4%. This was attributed to lower consumer demand for premium dining out.

This segment opened only six new restaurants over the half-year period, but closed 10 locations. However, the company noted that the pipeline for new restaurant openings looks promising.

“Our operating environment presents both headwinds and tailwinds,” Famous Brands said. “We are confident that we have the right strategy and brands to compete and build on the progress achieved over the past six months.”

Famous Brands declared an interim dividend of 162 cents per share, up from 150 cents in the first half of the 2025 financial year.