A local franchisor or investor will soon have the opportunity to introduce one of three iconic American food brands into the South African market, with the imminent arrival of fast food franchise Carl’s Jr, fondue restaurant The Melting Pot, and frozen delicacy chain, Rita’s Italian Ice. Edwards Global Services (EGS) Senior Director, William Gabbard will be travelling to South Africa at the end of August for meetings with potential South African franchisors or investors with the view of awarding the area development licence of each of the brands to a suitable franchisor or investor. Gabbard notes that being awarded one of these brands will provide considerable growth opportunities not only for the franchisor or investor, but for the South African food market as well. “These three brands are all recognisable and highly successful in the US, and I am confident that by partnering with an ambitious, determined, and hardworking franchisor or investor, they can achieve similar status in So...

The male-dominated world of fuel retailing is facing major change as key industry players ramp up their plans to attract black women as franchisees, says Thabiso Ramasike, Head of Franchising at Standard Bank. “The fuel retail sector remains a growth area in South Africa. While traditional fuel retailing in towns and cities already has fairly high penetration, we should bear in mind that the South African economy will continue to grow especially in previously under-served areas. “We therefore believe that the granting of franchises in the fuel retail sector will remain a major opportunity to introduce a new dynamic to this business,” says Mr Ramasike. He says black women in particular are being targeted by  certain key fuel industry players, which are trying to increase the number of PDI franchisees from the current 15% level. There are about 4 500 fuel retailers in South Africa and Mr Ramasike says there is pressure to transform the sector in line with black economic empowermen...

July 15 2011 at 05:00am Samantha Enslin-Payne PLANS by the Fruit & Veg City group to expand its Freshstop brand have been given a boost by a partnership with the black business supplier development programme (BBSDP), a Department of Trade and Industry initiative. The department recently revised its criteria to enable more small firms to access the programme. Pertunia Ndhlovu, the deputy director of the BBSDP, said yesterday that, in an effort to enable more companies to participate, businesses with a minimum annual turnover of R250 000 could now qualify. The threshold previously stipulated was R1 million. Other criteria had also changed. Ndhlovu said the focus was to improve the competitiveness of existing companies and to create jobs. Among the beneficiaries of the scheme is Freshstop, Fruit & Veg City ’s convenience store brand, which is in partnership with Caltex service stations. Freshstop director Joe Boyle said the partnership would support Caltex franchisees from prev...

Previous experience in retail or in managing related ventures is a critical success factor for prospective entrepreneurs who want to crack it in South Africa’s R100-billion-plus food retail franchising business, says Standard Bank’s Head of Franchising, Thabiso Ramasike. Mr Ramasike says although this business is lucrative and has minimal failure rate, it is however a difficult environment that requires newcomers to have huge amounts of business management experience, patience, capital and a willingness to learn. The food retail sector is one of the five sectors that Standard Bank believes needs financial, entrepreneurial and mentorship support in order to improve the success rate of franchisees and growth in employment opportunities. Telecommunications, fast-foods, restaurants and fuel are the other four sectors with strong franchising and job creation potential, and in which Standard Bank is closely involved. Mr Ramasike says entering the food retail sector is made more difficult ...

In honour of Sanlam’s ‘National Start Something Day’, the Jumpstart Business & Legal team encourages South Africans to Start a Business in September 2011 and have shared their five secrets for success. Sanlam has earmarked 2 September, 2011 as ‘National Start Something Day’ to inspire everyday people to take up a new hobby, learn a new language or even set-up a business venture. "At Jumpstart, our goal is to empower South African’s to take care of common business and legal needs in an easy and affordable way," says founder, Bryan Smith. "When we created Jumpstart, we took careful notes during every phase of the business formation process and applied what we learned to make starting a business easier for all." Jumpstart’s 5 Steps to Turning a Daydream into a Dream Business Step #1: Do your homework. Jumpstart offers a comprehensive Education Center to answer all of your questions so you can make the informed decisions that will turn your dreams into a thriving ...

The South African restaurant sector can expect further consolidation as the industry battles to survive increased competition as a result of the tough economic conditions, says Thabiso Ramasike, Standard Bank’s Head of Franchising. With the restaurant sector relying heavily on franchise business models, Mr Ramasike expects conditions for existing and prospective franchisees to be challenging. He says consolidation is already happening, with bigger brands acquiring smaller competitors to boost customer volumes and declining margins. Mr Ramasike says Standard Bank anticipates further merger and acquisition announcements before the end of the year among some of the local industry players as recent developments have shown. “The sector is very sensitive to business cycles and the recent recessionary environment and continuing economic uncertainty is affecting competition in the industry. Margins are tight as consumers tend to hold back in such economic times. As a result, we see more ro...

The intense battle between rival South African mobile brands to win customers is quickly shifting towards customer service, and the cellular franchises that succeed will be determined largely by the level of service excellence that customers experience. This is the view of Thabiso Ramasike, Head of Franchising at Standard Bank, who says the near-saturation of the local market has driven competition in the industry to unprecedented high levels. Aspirant franchisees in the telecoms sector need to understand these dynamics before venturing into the multi-billion-rand mobile franchise sector, says Mr Ramasike. He says while in the past industry players did not have to do much to attract customers, now with mobile phone penetration reaching high levels in South Africa the fight is intensifying. As a result of increasing competition, industry players are now being forced to take the franchise model very seriously. Whereas in the past franchisees in the mobile franchise sector tended to b...