Famous Brands romps to SWC fortune

Johannesburg - Quick service restaurant group Famous Brands [JSE:FBR] said Monday its 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign paid off handsomely, as sales across the group's South African network grew 24% in June compared with the prior year.

This increase equates to 83% of turnover delivered in December 2009 - with December typically regarded as the group's peak trading month.

Famous Brands' CEO Kevin Hedderwick said at the outset of this process the group identified its "non-negotiable" World Cup strategy as continuity of supply and consistency of product quality. 

"Our key objective was to facilitate getting product to market," he said.

"In order to deliver on this commitment we had to implement a range of strategies, including modifying our logistics distribution pattern from a five day to a six day rolling week.  In addition, we identified potential high volume sites and made provision for increased deliveries, hiring of additional fleet and supplying additional staff capacity.

"At some of our airport and transient route sites we seconded our own internal operations staff to assist franchisees with the increased foot traffic.  We also improved our call-and-collect process, which provided franchisees with additional flexibility in terms of obtaining product," said Hedderwick.
 
Hedderwick noted that the operations and logistics effort was complemented by the contribution of the group's franchise partners. Many restaurants extended trading hours until well after midnight on occasion.

Famous Brands also benefited from its long-standing strategy to ensure brand representation at airports and en route petroleum sites. Wimpy and Mugg & Bean are represented at every major airport in the country, while Steers, Steers Diners, Steers En Route and Wimpy have a strong presence on all major motorways across the country via the group's strategic alliance partners including Engen, Shell and Total.

"Our brands located on transient sites delivered an average 30% increase in turnover, with some as high as 49%. While comparative statistics for Durban and Cape Town airports are not available given that representation is only recent, sales from brands situated at OR Tambo grew 64% in June," he said.

Other high-profile sites located near major tourist attractions or fan parks proved similarly successful. Revenue across the brands at the V&A Waterfront grew 88%, while restaurants near Durban's North Beach fan park delivered sales growth of 97%.  Restaurant sales at Sandton City increased 48%, while turnover at Melrose Arch grew by 116%.

In addition, said Hedderwick, the group's restaurants situated at casinos around the country captured a significant share of the tourist influx. Famous Brands' restaurants at Durban's Sun Coast Casino grew turnover by 118%, while MonteCasino in Gauteng and the Boardwalk in Port Elizabeth enjoyed increased revenue of 75% and 126% respectively.

Hedderwick said restaurants in some of the smaller outlying towns also profited from soccer matches in their regions.  Sales improved between 19% and 30% in Nelspruit, Rustenburg and Polokwane.

Hedderwick said he expected the second half of July to be quiet - similar to the traditional post-December holiday period.  Given the anticipated drop in foot traffic, he noted that Steers, Wimpy and Debonairs Pizza will all be launching aggressive marketing campaigns using menu innovation and attractive pricing to drive feet into restaurants post-World Cup.
 
 - I-Net Bridge