ROB ROSE: The curse of the megabrands
Taste’s pricey deal with Starbucks and Domino’s proves that you’re not guaranteed success just because you have superstar brands
Inside Taste Holdings’ low-key offices near Modderfontein, CEO Carlo Gonzaga is fond of pointing out, you’ll see R1 coins plastered on the walls. The point, says Gonzaga, is to ensure everyone at Taste focuses on "how to get to that R1 of profit". Getting to that magical R1, however, has never looked further away. For the six months to August, the fast food company clocked up a R73m loss — a gaping void for a company worth just R367m on the JSE. It shouldn’t have been that way: Taste happens to be the custodian of the two largest global brands in SA today: coffee giant Starbucks (27,339 stores globally, 7,500 cups of coffee served every minute) and Domino’s Pizza (13,200 stores in 80 countries, delivering more than 1m pizzas every day).It’s a thumping MBA lesson in how, just because you have superstar brands, you’re not guaranteed success. Until those headline deals, Taste had done just fine with low-key brands like Scooters Pizza, Maxi’s, the Fish & Chip Co and Zebro’s chicken. Whi...
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