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A National fast food franchise that has taken traditional township shisa nyama, or township or street braai, to the country's shopping centres and retail parks has found favour among Eastern Cape franchisees.
In only two years, Pretoria businessman Stelio Nathanael's ChesaNyama franchise has grown to 200 stores countrywide, with a further three in Botswana and Lesotho. A further 300 are expected to be rolled out in the next three years.
Thanks to the rapid expansion of the brand in Gauteng, in particular, Eastern Cape franchisees have had the opportunity to open their own outlets - and business is booming, with eleven branches now dotted around the province, including Port Elizabeth, Mdantsane, Mthatha, East London, Butterworth, Queenstown and Whittlesea.
Nathanael's concept is to harness South Africans' love of shisa nyama while retaining the "fun" element associated with the practice.
Don McGregor, who opened his first outlet in Port Elizabeth in late October last year, has been so successful that he recently opened another branch in the Circus Triangle Mall in Mthatha.
"I think people like the concept because it is very sociable, as it has always been in the townships. The quality of the meat is also superb, and compared to a lot of the larger franchises it is really good value for money," McGregor said.
He said Nathanael and his team, whose head office is in Pretoria, had been exceptionally helpful in terms of training grill cooks, and that he currently employed six to eight people at each branch.
"The people of Mthatha are responding very well to the concept. Everyone loves the idea of braaied meat and chips."
Nathanael said he conceptualised the business after noticing that despite South Africans' love of meat, fast food outlets did not cater towards the niche of proper-flame-grilled meat.
"What is also interesting is that we are no longer considered to be a business in the low LSM [Living Standards Measure] market, as people from all walks of life and now enjoying our meals. Our passion for shisa nyama comes through, and South Africans are enjoying eating traditional food that is cheaper than the larger fast food franchises," Nathanael, who is also the founder of the Fish & Chips Company and managing director of Gold Brands, said.
