The men behind Nando’s – South Africa’s global peri-peri chicken empire
Few brand names resonate as vibrantly in South Africa as Nando’s. The peri-peri chicken chain’s origins trace back to a meal between two friends at a restaurant in Johannesburg in 1987.
Co-founded by Fernando “Nando” Duarte and Robert Brozin, Nando’s is renowned for bringing peri-peri sauce into the mainstream—a zesty and spicy sauce central to Portuguese and Mozambican dishes.
Nando’s has gone from a few restaurants in the late 1980s, to become one of the country’s most successful brands, spanning over 23 countries with more than 1,250 outlets and sporting an estimated global revenue of R30.06 billion for the year ending February 26, 2023.
One afternoon back in 1987, Duarte invited his friend Brozin for lunch at a Portuguese-Mozambican takeaway named Chickenland in Rosettenville, Johannesburg.
Duarte and Brozin met while working at Brozin’s father’s electronics business, where they worked as a technical and marketing manager, respectively.
Duarte was born in Porto, Portugal, and had immigrated to South Africa with his family after having spent formative years in Mozambique.
Brozin was born in Middelburg, South Africa, and largely grew up in Johannesburg—keen to try Portuguese-Mozambican cuisine.
Peri-peri power
The name peri-peri comes from the Swahili word for the African bird’s eye chilli – the pili pili – which was taken back to Portugal by traders who had been present along the east African coast since the sixteenth century.
Portuguese piri piri sauce entered Mozambique with the advent of white settlement, where it was re-adapted by Africans.
The peri-peri sauce, made from chilies, lemon, and garlic, marinated and basted chicken sparked Brozin’s interest in the restaurant’s concept.
Peri-peri chicken was only really on the menu in South Africa at small Portuguese family-owned businesses and in Mozambique and Angola. However, the two wanted to make it a household staple.
Together they purchased a 67% stake in Chickenland.
The restaurant was rebranded and then named after Fernando and his son, “Nando”.
Starting with three restaurants, “we knew nothing about the restaurant business,” said Brozin in an interview with the Harvard Business School.
“I thought it would just be a [passive] investment for me, that Fernando would actually work in it, and that I would just be an investor,” he added.
However, there was quite a shift after Brozin fell in love with the business itself. He became excited about driving the brand and became its long-serving CEO.
“What I found was that I just loved it. When I was behind the counter – actually working the counter, I loved the business, I loved everything about it,” said Brozin.
Duarte worked within the business, formalising and helping set the foundations.
“He didn’t enjoy it as much as I did. So we started another business – being typical entrepreneurs, we started an electronics business about 500 meters from where the first location was, which was a TV and video repair store,” said Brozin.
The business was called Circuit City, which was eventually sold, and Duarte jumped back into Nando’s full-time.
Duarte and Brozin eventually bought the business from the original owner, who did not share their vision. The two bought him out in 1990, thus taking full ownership of the company.
“One of the things that we did very early on is that we said Nando’s is going to be a brand: we want to develop it into a brand that people can associate it with—it must have a personality,” said Bronzin.
“I mean, starting with, say, three, four restaurants against the clutter of, say, KFC and a whole range of other brands as a startup, how do you become noticed? We used humour and a little bit of pushing the edge of a new startup that you could be the naughty child.”
Nando’s advertisements became known for their witty commentary on current events and social issues, often using humour to make bold statements—a strategy that would define their marketing approach for years to come.
They wanted to make themselves a truly unique South African branding, displaying the country’s art, heritage and culture throughout – which has greatly set them apart.
Brozin also said that the two sought to make the business “much more than about chicken” but also “pride, passion, courage, integrity, family.”
However, they needed to bring investment in to build the brand that they were looking for.
In the early 1990s, investor Richard Enthoven, the son of a South African entrepreneur who amassed an insurance fortune with his company Robert Enthoven Insurance Brokers, met with the business owners, who were keen on taking the company global.
After never having tried fast food, Enthoven tucked into the peri-peri chicken and was hooked.
With the entrepreneurs thinking that the investor wanted to take a majority of the business, Enthoven came in at 30%.
“That philosophy of a 30% stake is a very critical part of the story because most investors want control,” said Brozin.
“He didn’t want control at all. [Richard] was like – we want to make a hell of a lot of money was his view. But you’ve got to make more. You’re the operator.”
“You are the guy that’s working hard. You’re going to be working there late at night. You’ve got to be worried about the business,” explained Brozin, who said that this taught him a very valuable lesson about how much equity businesspeople should give away.
Enthoven has been a passionate part of the business.
“I never buy anything with the view of selling it or to invest in it,” Enthoven said in a 2010 interview with Business Day.
“I buy it because I enjoy it; because it is important to have it.”
Enthoven provided private capital and significant business know-how to help grow the business in South Africa and globally. This helped propel him to become a billionaire.
By the early 1990s, Nando’s had opened several outlets across South Africa, establishing a loyal customer base drawn not only by the food but also by the brand’s irreverent advertising style.
Following the first wave of white South Africans to leave the country during the transition, Nando’s opened its first overseas branch in Australia in 1990.
They were able to expand quickly internationally by understanding that the product was in demand in the global market, especially initially from South Africans who had emigrated.
Successful franchises opened in the United Kingdom (1992), Botswana (1993), Canada (1994), Malaysia (1998), Pakistan (2001), and elsewhere followed.
Einthoven spearheaded rolling out the franchise in the United Kingdom, which was an instant success and has now become one of the UK’s most popular restaurant chains.
As of December 2023, there are 465 Nando’s restaurants in the United Kingdom, and “having a cheeky Nando’s” is a popular term among the Brits for whenever diners want to treat themselves to something nice.
Altogether, the UK restaurants showcase over 5,000 pieces of South African art, according to the company’s website, a collection ten times bigger than the one at the Tate Britain museum.
Brozin, who served as CEO since its inception, stepped down after having seen Nando’s open its 1,000th restaurant 2010. He is now focusing on anti-malaria and youth employment initiatives in Africa, winning the Skoll Award for social impact.
He advises young entrepreneurs to be careful when choosing business partners, likening the process to a marriage and saying that he got incredibly lucky in his journey.
“It’s like picking a wife or a wife picking you. You’ve got to find people that share the values of what the business stands for.”
“If people start talking about the exit even before they’ve even started entering into the business, you’ve got to question their intent, particularly – obviously, it depends on the kind of business you want to develop.”
Additionally, he said that in both business and life, “your attitude actually can be the difference between success and failure.”
Read: The woman running a R300 billion financial empire in South Africa
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