South African food store with lower prices than Checkers and Pick n Pay
Best Before clearance stores, offering reduced prices on food products, are showing strong growth and have big expansion plans.
Best Before was founded in 2017 by Mark Gordon and Alain Soriano. They are experienced businessmen with a combined 60 years of retail experience.
Gordon and Soriano noticed the success of concept stores in Europe and Australia that sell short and past-dated quality food and personal care products at highly discounted prices.
They decided to replicate the model in South Africa and launch a Pilot Store in Wendywood Sandton to test it locally.
At the time, salvage stores were selling damaged and shop-soiled products with no attention to quality dates and store presentation.
“Our research showed no one was selling quality branded products in a professional retail environment. We decided to fill that gap with Best Before,” they said.
They quickly noted a demand for such quality products due to the country’s economic challenges and global trends.
Gordon and Soriano partnered with many of South Africa’s largest food suppliers to deliver quality food at great prices.
The suppliers benefitted by finding a new channel to supply goods no longer within the dates acceptable to traditional supermarkets.
It should be noted that Best Before does not sell anything past its use-by date. “All our lines come from trusted and reputable suppliers with stringent quality control,” it explains.
After the success of their pilot store, they opened new stores and launched an online shopping service in Gauteng.
Best Before now has six stores in Johannesburg and plans to open its first store in Pretoria in the coming months.
The Johannesburg stores are in Woodmead, Edenvale, Fourways, Northcliff, Krugersdorp, and Boksburg.
Best Before affordability
Best Before explains that it specialises in surplus and short-dated food stock that is either near or past its ‘best before’ date.
“Food that has passed its best-before date is safe to eat. However, the flavour and texture may change over time,” the company explained.
“These dates are put on there by the manufacturer, not the Health Department, and it’s all in the words best before.”
The manufacturers say the products will be at their best within those days, but this does not mean that once the date is reached, the goods will be bad afterward.
“Best-before dates are an indicative guide of when the quality of food or drink will start to change. They are unrelated to safety. Food that has passed its best-before date is safe to eat.”
Best Before said it would refund any product bought in its stores should you not be satisfied with their purchase.
It raises the question of how much cheaper Best Before is than South Africa’s largest retailers, Checkers and Pick n Pay.
| Product | Checkers | Pick n Pay | Best Before |
| Cook n Bake | R54.99 | R49.99 | R45.00 |
| Pronutro 1KG | – | R105.99 | R69.00 |
| Pepsi Cola 12 x 330ml | R99.99 | R116.49 | R69.00 |
| Milo Cookie | – | R3.99 | R7.00 |
| Koo Guava | R39.99 | R32.99 | R23.00 |
| Cadbury Topdeck | R23.99 | R22.99 | R15.00 |
| Cadbury Ps Duo | R18.99 | R16.99 | R12.00 |
| Sally Williams Nougat 50g | R23.99 | R22.99 | R19.00 |
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