SAMANTHA ENSLIN-PAYNE: Where our hearts lead, will heartburn follow?
Has Famous Brands bitten off more than it can chew? Are gourmet burgers really going to deliver long-term results, given that high-end consumers are so fickle?
Famous Brands is the group we love to love. A small business that made it to the big time. With just one brand when it listed in 1994 as Steers Holdings and a market capitalisation of R25-million, it has come a long way: its market capitalisation is now around R11.8-billion. It has 27 brands and 2800 outlets in South Africa, elsewhere in Africa, the Middle East and the UK. Selling good burgers, so-so pizza and greasy breakfasts that are a must when you are travelling to Durbs has paid off. As has its foray in the past 10 years into higher-end fare, which I have not sampled for many years. But if the expansion of Tashas, for example, is anything to go by, it's going down a treat with a lot of folk. Investors have been happy: since 2012, revenue and operating profit have more than doubled, helped by a steady string of acquisitions, which, in hindsight, may have been at a slightly too giddy pace. Especially its recent big one: the R2.1-billion acquisition of Gourmet Burger Kitchen in t...
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