Selling burgers is broadly speaking not controversial - even when your tagline is "a taste for life", but you are selling, well, you know what I mean, and your company has had to deal with accusations of cultural appropriation for its logo. And so for JSE-listed Spur Corporation, its Spur Steak Ranches was a business that was ticking over fairly nicely, sort of. The business was started in 1967 in Newlands in Cape Town, and after the founder Allen Ambor opened the second outlet in Sea Point its popularity sparked a plan to franchise. The group now has 590 outlets in South Africa and several other countries. It includes Panarottis Pizza Pasta, Captain DoRegos, John Dory's, The Hussar Grill and RocoMamas in which it has 51% interest. Last month, Spur Corporation reported that for the six months to December 2016 total franchised restaurant sales from continuing operations rose 10.4% to R3.8-billion. And profit was up 20.7%. So things were looking good. Except, actually, trading conditi...
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