Spur burger for R3.35
Investment expert Schalk Louw highlighted that the price of a Spur burger increased by 9.23% per year over the last 40 years.
Adjusting this price for the change in value-added tax (VAT), this annual price increase is approximately 2% above the Consumer Price Index (CPI) over this period.
CPI is a key economic indicator that measures the average change over time in the prices paid for a market basket of consumer goods and services.
This measure tracks inflation and changes in the cost of living, calculated by monitoring price changes in everyday items such as food, housing, and transportation.
Louw shared details about the change of a Spur burger, which he jokingly called “burgerflation”, in a social media post.
“I went to Spur for the first time in years this week and ordered the benchmark dish, the Spur Burger,” he said.
“The bill came to R119.90, which I paid with a smile. It was the same smile when I paid R3.35 for a Spur burger 40 years ago.”
This tongue-in-cheek post takes South Africans on a nostalgic trip down memory lane to one of the country’s iconic restaurants.
However, it has some economic significance to show how the value of the rand depreciated and how affordable certain products were in the past.
It is similar to the Big Mac index, created by The Economist in 1986, which is a lighthearted tool to measure Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) between currencies.
This measure uses the price of a McDonald’s Big Mac as a simple benchmark for a basket of goods.
It helps assess if a currency is overvalued or undervalued by comparing the price of this popular burger in different countries.
It suggests that, in theory, exchange rates should adjust so that a McDonald’s Big Mac costs the same everywhere.
Although this is little more than a fun way to look at Purchasing Power Parity of currencies, it has been enjoying great attention over the year.
Louw’s “burgerflation”, which uses the humble Spur burger as a benchmark, can be seen as a similar fun way to look at the inflation of restaurant food over the years.
Spur menu in 1986 (courtesy of Schalk Louw)
Spur menu in 2026
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