Food & bev. services News South Africa

Pizza Hut on track with ambitious African expansion

Pizza Hut's African growth story continues as the restaurant chain celebrates the opening of its 100th store in sub-Saharan Africa in the historic Ghandi Square, Johannesburg. A division of global giant Yum! Brands Inc., the pizza franchise entered the African market three and a half years ago with its first restaurant opening in Johannesburg, and ambitious expansion plans for the continent.
Pizza Hut on track with ambitious African expansion

Pizza Hut restaurants now trade in 13 sub-Saharan African countries, with an additional 90 stores in Morocco, Egypt and Algeria, bringing the total to 190 across the African continent. According to the brand, this aggressive growth in Africa reflects the untapped opportunities offered by emerging markets for the chain, which already has over 16,700 restaurants in more than 100 countries.

General manager of Pizza Hut Africa, Ewan Davenport, says, “We are on track with the African growth story we started in September 2014 and we are hugely proud of our progress. As we expand our footprint in these markets, we continue to add and develop strong local supply chain partners so that we can bring our top quality, affordable pizza to customers in African regions where pizza is not as prevalent as elsewhere in the world.”

South Africa’s Gauteng and Western Cape provinces currently have the most restaurants in sub-Saharan Africa. Free delivery for online orders was recently launched in the competitive South African market and Davenport says this will be available in African markets in the near future.

“We started our journey in Johannesburg and it feels great that our 100th sub-Saharan Africa store is opening here now. With many more stores to follow, we’ve just scratched the surface of growth. We’re passionate about bringing Pizza Hut pizza to Africa by accelerating our expansion across the continent. We are prepped, ready and looking forward to developing Pizza Hut restaurants in more African countries, ultimately making us not only the largest pizza brand in the world but also on the African continent,” Davenport concludes.

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