The two university students who founded South Africa’s biggest pizza franchise

Business • 8 November 2026 • Kirsten Minnaar

Debonairs Pizza was founded in 1991 by two university students who saw an opportunity to bring American-style pizza delivery to South Africa.

More than three decades later, it has grown into the country’s largest pizza franchise, with 910 restaurants across 17 markets.

The idea came from Craig MacKenzie, then a student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, who visited Los Angeles and saw how established pizza delivery services operated in the United States.

He identified an opportunity to introduce a similar service in South Africa and joined forces with fellow student Andrew Harvey.

The pair opened their first Debonairs Pizza restaurant in 1991 at the Park Lane Spar in Pietermaritzburg. They started the business with just R6,000.

Debonairs was the first South African pizza brand to offer efficient, free delivery. Its drivers also stood out by delivering pizzas in tuxedos and bow ties.

The concept helped establish the brand in the local fast-food market. In 1996, the Steers Group acquired Debonairs, which provided the business with the backing to expand its restaurant network.

The Steers Group later became Famous Brands, which today owns several major restaurant chains, including Steers, Wimpy, Mugg & Bean, Fishaways, Milky Lane and Turn ‘n Tender.

Under its new ownership, Debonairs continued to grow. It opened its first restaurant outside South Africa in Manzini, Eswatini, in 1997 and reached 60 stores the following year.

The brand also won the Franchisor of the Year award from the Franchisee Association of South Africa in 1998.

In 2005, Debonairs opened its 200th restaurant in Sandton. It also changed its slogan from “We deliver smartly” to “It’s the way you like it”.

The late 2000s brought several product innovations. In 2008, the company introduced its Triple-Decker, Crammed-Crust, and Double-Stack pizzas, which remain on its menu.

In 2010, it launched mobile and online ordering, becoming the first pizza brand in Africa to offer these services. It also introduced a smaller personal pizza. A year later, Debonairs adopted its current slogan, “Try something amazing”.

The chain reached 600 restaurants in 2016, when it opened a new store in Botshabelo in the Free State.

It was also voted the third-most-loved fast-food brand in the Sunday Times Top Brands Awards, making it the country’s leading pizza brand in the survey.

By 2019, it had moved into second place in the awards. In 2020, it opened its 700th restaurant.

Famous Brands’ interim results for the six months ended 31 August 2026

Debonairs expands across South Africa

Today, Debonairs is the largest restaurant brand in Famous Brands’ portfolio and the second-largest fast food chain in South Africa, after KFC.

Famous Brands’ interim results for the six months ended 31 August 2026 showed that the chain had 910 restaurants across 17 markets.

This included 22 new restaurants opened during the period, while four were closed. The figures represent a net increase of 18 restaurants from the start of the financial year.

The latest results follow a year of expansion in which Debonairs opened 36 new restaurants and revamped 48 existing stores.

The brand has continued to expand beyond South Africa, with its operations divided across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, the Rest of Africa and the Middle East (AME), and the United Kingdom markets.

Famous Brands has also continued to invest in its restaurant network beyond Debonairs. The group opened 48 new restaurants and revamped 67 during the six months to August 2026.

This brought its total footprint to 3,070 restaurants across 21 countries, including 2,723 in South Africa.

Famous Brands reported revenue of R4.34 billion for the period, up 2.3%. However, operating profit declined by 4.7% to R375 million, while headline earnings per share fell by 3.2% to 228 cents.

The company attributed the pressure to a difficult trading environment, with higher fuel costs and weaker consumer spending affecting its margins.