One man makes R26 million a month selling ‘hardbody’ chickens to taxi rank traders

A South African entrepreneur makes R26 million a month distributing 400,000 ‘hardbody’ chickens to informal traders at taxi ranks across Johannesburg. 

Hardbody chickens are considered a township delicacy in South Africa and are typically commercial egg-laying hens that have reached the end of their laying life. 

These chickens are known for having firm, tough flesh that yields a different flavour profile than that of a bird commercially farmed for consumption. 

While considered a delicacy, hardbody chickens are extremely popular, said informal economy expert GG Alcock in an interview with BizNews. 

Alcock said observers often see the man or woman selling a few chickens on the side of the road and think that is the informal economy. 

These observers struggle to gauge the market’s scale and realise that there are thousands of traders across Johannesburg’s townships alone. 

Aggregating these businesses makes them a huge sector of the informal economy, generating billions of rands in sales every year. 

This is what is increasingly attractive to JSE-listed food producers and retailers, who want to supply traders in the informal economy. 

Alcock explained that a young entrepreneur has already done this with hardbody chickens and is being rewarded handsomely. 

“I met a guy the other day who couldn’t find a job. He was a white guy from the northern suburbs of Johannesburg,” Alcock recalled. 

“He had heard about these hardbody chickens and how popular they were. So he went out to egg layers in Marikana and asked to buy their old hens.”

The old hardbodies are hens that have reached the end of their laying period, and selling them gave the layers another source of income. 

“He bought a cooler vehicle and takes these hens from the layers and literally goes to park in taxi ranks and sells them to traders,” Alcock said. 

“These traders buy the chickens and then resell them, break them up, or cook them. He was selling 400,000 hardbody chickens a month.” 

Alcock said his service was so popular because he went to the traders in the taxi rank and did not expect them to leave their place of business to come to him for chickens. 

This is incredibly lucrative for the entrepreneur, with a hardbody chicken selling for between R65 and R140, depending on the chicken’s weight. 

Shoprite sells its hardbody chickens for R49.99 per kilogram, making a whole chicken R111.98 from its stores. 

As a supplier to traders, the entrepreneur’s prices are lower than retail, averaging between R65 and R80 per chicken. 

This means the entrepreneur makes between R26 million and R32 million per month selling these chickens.