Close of a 25-year chapter in South Africa for popular coffee chain

·6 Sep 2026

Vida e Caffè’s acquisition by Shoprite marks a major new chapter for the coffee chain, ending 25 years of independent ownership and bringing the business into South Africa’s largest retail group.

Shoprite announced the acquisition in its annual results for the 2026 financial year, alongside the acquisition of R&A Cellular.

The deal was signed on 20 August 2026 and comprises Vida’s South African and international operations.

Apart from the coffee chain, Vida e Caffè also owns Sweetbeet, a fast-casual health-food restaurant brand that it acquired in 2022.

This means that Shoprite now owns the largest coffee shop chain in South Africa and across the rest of the continent, as well as a health-food restaurant brand.

Shoprite CEO Pieter Engelbrecht said Vida has established itself as South Africa’s leading coffee brand and would boost the group’s platform for future growth and customer engagement.

“Its broad and demographically diverse customer base is supported by a range of store formats, including high street, forecourt, drive-thru, corporate office and retail locations, as well as an increasingly integrated digital offering,” he said.

“Vida is a business we greatly admire, and we look forward to learning from its success while supporting its next phase of growth.”

The company has grown significantly since opening its first store on Kloof Street in Cape Town in 2001.

In an interview with CapeTalk, Vida e Caffè CEO Darren Levy said Vida recently reached another major milestone, opening its 400th store in June before adding another ten outlets within weeks.

“It’s been a long journey, starting from the founders who had the vision to bring that high street coffee with that infused, sort of Afro-Portuguese, energy back in 2001,” Levy said.

He credited the company’s growth to the people who helped build the brand over the past quarter-century, including its employees, franchisees and business partners.

“It’s been a job contributed to, and an outcome contributed to by an incredible bunch of partners, team members, wonderful franchisees who’ve been loyal and invested heavily into the brand,” he said.

More opportunities for the Vida brand

Levy said he and the wider Vida e Caffè team will remain involved in the business following the acquisition. He said this was an important part of discussions with Shoprite before the deal was announced.

“A key part has been the continuation of the team. The team is very much part of the vision going forward. We’re just going to be in a new home,” Levy said.

While financial details surrounding the acquisition remain confidential, Levy described the negotiations as constructive and positive for those involved.

“Some of those discussions and mechanics and valuations are still under non-disclosure, but it was a very smooth and honourable and honest negotiation that ended very well for everybody, I believe,” he said.

Levy said Vida e Caffè brings capabilities to Shoprite that complement the retailer’s existing operations and coffee ambitions.

These include the company’s experience across sourcing, manufacturing, roasting, distribution and operating coffee stores.

“The model that we have in coffee and QSR is obviously unique—the way we source product, the way we manufacture, roast, distribute and produce and store,” he said.

He added that the acquisition should ultimately support the further expansion of the Vida brand, particularly as South Africa’s coffee market continues to grow. “It means positive outcomes. The market is growing aggressively,” Levy said.

He noted that South Africa has developed a highly competitive coffee industry, ranging from major chains to independent artisanal operators.

“We’re privileged to have an exceptionally high standard of coffee in this country across the chains and the independents and the small, one-man artisanal speciality coffee shops. And we all drive each other to be better and better for the consumer.”

Levy said coffee has increasingly become part of everyday South African culture and that Vida has deliberately expanded beyond traditional high streets and affluent shopping centres.

“We’ve always subscribed to the belief that coffee should be made available to as wide an audience as possible and as many communities,” he said.

The company has expanded through partnerships with forecourt brands and into office buildings, hospitals, secondary cities and even airlines.

Levy said Shoprite’s extensive footprint and distribution network could create further opportunities to take Vida e Caffè into more communities.

“Partnering with Shoprite and their distribution and platform across many of their brands gives us another avenue to grow the platform and the brand even further,” he said.