Woolworths opening three new restaurants in 2026
Woolworths has confirmed it will open three new sit-down eateries this year, including two Woolworths Cafes and one Woolworths Now Now store.
This comes after the group launched a new Now Now takeaway store in Somerset Mall in the Western Cape earlier this month.
The new stores launching in the second half of this year are all based in Gauteng:
- WCafe at Eastway Centre, Pretoria
- WCafe at Castle Gate, Pretoria
- Now Now at Broadacres, Johannesburg
“At Woolworths, WCafes, Now Now branches, Coffee hatches, and tuckshops all form part of our broader Food Services division; a high-growth business that continues to play a central role in our strategy,” said the group.
Woolworths told BusinessTech that expanding its Food Services offering remains core to the Woolworths strategy.
“It is a key driver of new revenue streams, supports our efforts to attract new customers, and helps grow our share of spend among existing customers.”
“This growth reflects our continued investment in convenient, high-quality food experiences that meet our customers where they are.”
Woolworths introduced NOW NOW as an express takeaway and café concept in April 2017, targeting busy office workers and commuters in need of fast, high-quality, and affordable meals.
The first outlet was opened on Longmarket Street in Cape Town’s City Bowl, located near the Woolworths corporate head office.
The Now Now brand was designed to prioritise speed and convenience. It launched with an order-ahead app feature, allowing customers to place orders on their phones and collect them without waiting.
Following its debut in Cape Town’s CBD nearly 10 years ago, Woolworths expanded the NOW NOW concept into major shopping malls, including Rosebank Mall and Canal Walk, as well as select high-traffic transport corridors across the region.
The Woolworths cafe chain, WCafe, first opened in 2009 at Gateway Mall in KwaZulu-Natal.
WCafe is a coffee shop and casual dining restaurant chain owned and operated by Woolworths. The chain prepares all its dishes with exclusively sourced ingredients from Woolworths.
The cafe chain stands out for its free-range eggs, chicken, and beef, as well as its “sustainably farmed” fruits and vegetables.
The WCafe brand said it serves 100% African organic Arabica coffee beans sourced from Ethiopia and Tanzania.
The WCafe offers a variety of food options, including breakfast selections, burgers, cakes, toasted sandwiches, and salads, and also accommodates vegan customers.
The WCafes are located either inside or adjacent to the Woolworths stores, with about 230 across South Africa.
Woolworths food business hits the lights out
In its recent financial results, Woolworths said it would be reorienting itself around its Food business, which performed better than other segments and gave it a major competitive edge.
Woolworths operates across various retail sectors in South Africa and internationally, including food, clothing, and homeware.
The company has a significant footprint in the country, employing over 34,000 individuals in its South African operations.
In the 2026 financial year, Woolworths saw its turnover increase by 4.3% year-on-year to R84.5 billion, with growth reported across every business segment.
The company’s Earnings Before Interest, Taxation, Depreciation, and Amortisation (EBITDA) also grew modestly, by 2.8% to R8.9 billion.
However, Woolworths experienced a slight decline in its earnings per share, which decreased to R2.63 while its headline earnings per share (HEPS) rose to R2.82 from R2.68.
One of the group’s top-performing segments was its Woolworths Food division, which increased its turnover by 5.7%.
The group highlighted that it had continued to gain market share in South Africa’s grocery and supermarket industry.
This growth in market share coincided with the opening of 13 new grocery stores in South Africa, bringing its total trading space to over 291,000 square meters.
Images of WCafe and Woolworths Now Now
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