Ultra-luxury retailer that started as a petrol station slowly taking over South Africa

·14 Mar 2026

An ultra-luxury retail concept that began at a petrol station forecourt is rapidly expanding across South Africa.

According to a Moneyweb report, the latest expansion will see a large new The Pantry store opening at Mall of Africa, one of the country’s biggest retail centres.

According to Attacq development executive David Oosthuizen, the new Pantry location will span about 1,300 square metres, and construction has already been approved.

Attacq estimated the development will cost around R54.3 million, while the Marble Hospitality Group will also invest heavily in fitting out the store.

The store will occupy the western corner of the Mall of Africa along Karkloof Crescent, directly opposite the new Aspire residential development being built in partnership with property developer Tricolt.

The group already has a pop-up Pantry store at the mall, which opened in mid-October and is believed to have been used to test demand in the Waterfall and broader Midrand area before committing to a permanent location.

The fifth standalone location adds to the existing stores in Bassonia, south of Johannesburg, Rosebank, Johannesburg, and Hazelwood, Pretoria, which opened in October last year.

A new Pantry store will also open when the Olympus Development in Sandton opens, which will also feature a Marble restaurant and the group’s first foray into the hotel space.

The Pantry brand has been a huge success, and started as the first luxury petrol station in South Africa.

The Pantry was started by Celebrity chef David Higgs and serial businessman Gary Kyriacou.

The pair have launched several successful high-end restaurants, including Marble, Saint, and Zioux.

After the launch of Marble in 2016 and the success of Saint in Sandton in 2018, the group was well established in the premium restaurant market. However, the Covid-19 pandemic dramatically changed their outlook.

The Pantry’s beginnings

Lockdowns hit the restaurant industry particularly hard, forcing the founders to rethink how their businesses were structured and how they could survive similar disruptions in the future.

While one of their new ventures was Zioux, which focuses on fine Asian cuisine and differs significantly from their earlier restaurants, the pair also began exploring entirely new concepts.

They eventually settled on an unexpected idea, which was a luxury petrol station forecourt.

Higgs previously explained that the concept grew out of the need to build a business model that would be more resilient if restaurants were forced to close again.

The team explored several ideas during the pandemic before landing on the Pantry concept.

The idea was to combine the convenience of a petrol station shop with the quality and atmosphere of a premium hospitality venue.

The Pantry stores offer a curated selection of wines, grab-and-go meals, fresh-baked goods, quality coffee, and locally sourced produce.

The experience is designed to feel more like a boutique food market than a traditional forecourt store, with careful attention paid to the layout and even the music.

The concept took off quickly, with the founders reporting that demand was so strong in the early days that they struggled to keep up with how quickly products were selling.

As with the launch of Marble, the rapid growth forced the group to rethink aspects of its business structure and staffing to ensure the stores could operate efficiently.

The Pantry is now a well-known brand in Gauteng and regularly introduces new products, adjusts store layouts to improve sales, and tweaks the customer experience.

While the Rosebank branch is attached to a petrol station, other locations such as Hazelwood in Pretoria and Bassonia in Johannesburg operate as standalone stores.

These larger sites have allowed the group to expand its offerings to include fresh grocery items, while also providing more parking, which is a challenge at the busy Rosebank location, particularly on weekends.