Spur closes iconic restaurants in South Africa
Spur Corporation has closed six John Dory’s restaurants during its latest financial year, including five outlets in South Africa.
The group noted that the seafood restaurant chain has continued to face pressure from subdued consumer spending, rising costs and changing dining habits.
The closures mark the second consecutive year in which the John Dory’s network has contracted. The brand’s South African footprint fell from 44 franchised restaurants to 39 during the 2026 financial year, while its total international and domestic network declined from 46 to 40 outlets.
John Dory’s was established in 1996 and built its reputation as a seafood-focused restaurant chain.
Spur Corporation first acquired a 60% stake in the business in 2004, when it was a KwaZulu-Natal-based franchise with seven outlets.
The group increased its holding by a further 5% in 2006 before acquiring the remaining 35% in 2012.
The brand’s latest performance stands out from most of Spur Corporation’s other restaurant businesses.
Franchised John Dory’s restaurant sales declined by 11.2%, falling from R422.2 million in 2025 to R374.8 million in 2026. Its segment profit before income tax also dropped by 23.3%, from R10.06 million to R7.716 million.
The company said the difficult trading environment affected its operations across the group.
“The trading environment has been highly challenging over the past year, marked by constrained consumer spending, rising input costs, heightened competition, labour and skills pressures, as well as the continued shifts towards value, convenience, and digital engagement,” the group said.
“While domestic food supply remained broadly stable, sourcing, production, and distribution costs increased under the combined pressure of local agricultural disruption, logistics constraints, and global commodity volatility.”
The financial pressure was also reflected in the group’s marketing funds. Spur Corporation said that “the loss for the current year reflects the fact that two of the group’s marketing funds (Spur and John Dory’s) were in a net overspent position.”
John Dory’s is the outlier
While John Dory’s contracted, the group’s other major restaurant brands expanded in South Africa.
Spur Steak Ranches increased its footprint from 316 to 326 outlets, while Panarottis Pizza Pasta grew from 92 to 102.
RocoMamas increased from 88 to 92, while the group’s speciality brands rose from 79 to 80 restaurants. The sales performance of these brands was also stronger.
Panarottis’ franchised sales increased by 16.3% to R1.212 billion, followed by Speciality Brands at 8% growth to R1.390 billion, RocoMamas at 7.6% to R1.053 billion and Spur at 5.8% to R7.029 billion.
Profit growth followed a similar pattern. Panarottis’ segment profit increased by 19.5% to R41.9 million, RocoMamas rose 7.5% to R40.333 million, Spur increased 6% to R305.895 million, and Speciality Brands grew 5.2% to R39.002 million.
Despite John Dory’s weaker performance, Spur Corporation reported an 8.5% increase in group revenue to R4.191 billion for the year.
Reported profit before income tax fell 19.4% to R323.567 million, while attributable profit declined 36.4% to R173.54 million.
However, the group said these figures were affected by a R129.5 million non-trading provision related to litigation involving GPS Foods.
Excluding this provision, adjusted profit before income tax increased by 12.8% to R453.1 million. Adjusted headline earnings per share also rose 8.9% to 370.3 cents, compared with a reported decline of 38.4% to 209.32 cents.
The board nevertheless declared a total dividend of 326 cents per share, up 9% from the 299 cents paid in 2025.
Loading ...