eBusiness Weekly
Simbisa Brands opened its inaugural Chicken Inn outlet in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1987. Following the opening of the original Chicken Inn, the Quick Services Restaurants Business has expanded phenomenally with the addition of new brands and the franchising of existing brands.
In 1998, Innscor listed on the ZSE, utilising the QSR Business to spread its footprint into Africa as a diverse Pan-African operation. In the process, QSR outlets were opened in Zambia, Kenya and Ghana. Since then the QSR Business has grown to own and franchise outlets all across 9 African countries, including Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, DRC, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, Mauritius and Swaziland.
A major factor contributing to the success of the company is the strategic and well thought out location of its outlets.
Simbisa stores can be found along busy track routes, in central business districts, in urban areas as well as food courts; all these locations ensure consistent access to large volumes of consumers. The company is unique in that it not only owns the IPR’s of the brands within its portfolio, but owner-operated the outlets of the QSR brands. Furthermore, Simbisa owns the master licence to other successful brands such as Galito’s Africa, Nando’s (Zimbabwe only), Steers (Zimbabwe only), Rocomama’s (Zimbabwe Only) and Vida E Caffé.
On August 5, 2015, Simbisa was incorporated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Innscor. Effective October 1, 2015, Simbisa acquired, through a scheme of reconstruction, all the assets and liabilities of the QSR Business from Innscor in exchange for 541 593 440 shares in the company.
In its last set of results, the company said it intends to grow its footprint with 92 new stores in the 2022 financial year at an investment cost of US$19, 3 million.
Of these stores, eight are earmarked to be drive-through sites in line with the increased focus on diversifying the group’s customer services channel. In the year to June 2021, Simbisa recorded a 108 percent jump in revenue to close the year at $18, 789 billion from $9, 044 billion realised in 2020, while profit before tax surged by 33 percent to $2,165 billion from $1,631 billion reported in the same period in 2020. The fast-food restaurant operator posted a 97 percent growth in profit for the year to close at $2,151 billion from $1,092 billion realised in the prior comparable period.
The group’s operating profit surged by 233 percent to $2,412 billion (inflation-adjusted terms) in comparison to $725 million recorded last year. Going forward the group also hinted at investing in growing the Dial –a-Delivery (DAD) business across all its markets.
