Well-known takeaway restaurants closed across South Africa

Famous Brands continues closing poor-performing fast-food restaurants across South Africa, including Steers, Debonairs Pizza, and Fishaways outlets.

Famous Brands is Africa’s largest restaurant franchisor, dealing mostly in quick service and casual dining restaurants.

The company has many Leading Brands in its stable, including Steers, Debonairs Pizza, Fishaways, Wimpy, Mugg & Bean, and Milky Lane.

It also has many Signature Brands restaurants, including Lupa, Paul, Turn n Tender, Salsa, Vovo Telo, and Mythos.

The company had a challenging time between 2016 and 2020, aggravated by the pandemic, which forced it to shut down operations.

However, since the share price hit a low of R24 per share in April 2020, the company has recovered and showed strong share price growth.

Since then, the share price rallied 185% and currently trades at around R70 per share. In 2024, the share price of Famous Brands increased by over 20%.

Over the last six months, Famous Brands’ revenue increased by 2.0% to R4.017 billion, and operating profit remained flat at R371 million.

The company said its Leading Brands portfolio continued to perform strongly, with continued good performance from its casual dining restaurants.

A lack of discretionary consumer income for luxury dining experiences impacted the performance of its Signature Brands portfolio.

“Overall, our performance continues to be under pressure as lower consumer spending dampened demand,” the company said.

“Basic infrastructural challenges, including water shortages, put additional pressure on our industry.”

Famous Brands chief executive Darren Hele said the past six months have seen one of the tightest periods on consumer disposable income.

There are positive signs, including the end of load-shedding, political stability, dropping fuel prices, and lower interest rates.

However, despite these green shoots, Hele said the reasonable recovery of consumer disposal income might not occur in the medium term.

Closing poor-performing restaurants

Famous Brands responded to the challenging consumer environment by closing poor-performing restaurants.

Over its last financial year, between 1 March 2023 and 29 February 2024, Famous Brands closed 47 restaurants in South Africa.

The closures included 14 Steers outlets, 11 Fishaways fast-food restaurants, and 5 Debonairs Pizza outlets.

The company also closed 7 Mugg & Bean restaurants, 6 Wimpy restaurants, and 4 Milky Lane outlets.

Poor-performing restaurants in its Signature Brands portfolio were not spared. It closed 19 restaurants, including converting 10 Fego Caffés to Mugg & Bean restaurants.

The restaurant closures continued in the first half of the 2025 financial year, with Famous Brands closing 14 Leading Brands outlets and 4 Signature Brands restaurants.

In its latest results presentation, the company said the main reasons for these closures are demographic changes, competitor activity, and the viability of the trading precinct.

Famous Brands executives highlighted that, in many cases, a trading precinct became too challenging or there was a shift to competitors in the area.

They gave the example of closing a triple combo store in The Bridge Centre in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.

This was due to the trading precinct being very difficult to trade in, impacted by load-shedding and other challenges.

These restaurant closures were a small part of Famous Brand’s restaurant network of 2,552 outlets in South Africa.

The company has 2,914 restaurants in the 18 countries it operates, including 2,778 Leading Brands and 136 Signature Brands.

They include 714 Steers, 841 Debonairs Pizza, 248 Fishaways, 286 Mugg & Bean, 544 Wimpy, and 111 Milky Lane restaurants.