{"id":794085,"date":"2024-10-08T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=794085"},"modified":"2024-10-08T13:38:28","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T11:38:28","slug":"the-south-african-grocery-store-that-is-cheaper-than-pick-n-pay-checkers-and-spar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/794085\/the-south-african-grocery-store-that-is-cheaper-than-pick-n-pay-checkers-and-spar\/","title":{"rendered":"The South African grocery store that is cheaper than Pick n Pay, Checkers, and Spar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The South African grocery store Best Before offers much lower prices than other retailers by selling short and past-dated food and personal care products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two experienced South African businessmen, Mark Gordon and Alain Soriano, started Best Before in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They saw an opportunity to sell foods, toiletries, and household items at a big discount because they were near or past their &#8216;best before&#8217; date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They noticed the success of these types of discount stores in Europe and Australia and replicated the model in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They tested the concept at a pilot store in Wendywood, Sandton. It was a winner. There was a&nbsp;strong demand for affordable food and other household items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They expanded the concept and partnered with South Africa\u2019s largest food suppliers to deliver quality food at great prices. Everyone won through Best Before\u2019s business model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Suppliers benefit by finding a new channel to supply goods no longer within the dates acceptable to traditional supermarkets.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Consumers benefit through lower prices on popular foods, toiletries, and household items.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Best Before benefits through a growing business and increased profits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The store highlights that it does not sell anything past its use-by date. All its products come from trusted and reputable suppliers with stringent quality control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It explains that the best before date on most items is an estimate of how long a product will remain at optimal quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Therefore, it will not be dangerous to use it after this date. \u201cThere is no health problem with&nbsp;buying and consuming beyond that date,\u201d Best Before explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The company became a specialist in buying items that are close to or past their best-before date&nbsp;and&nbsp;surplus stock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are able to buy large quantities at great prices, allowing us to pass considerable savings onto our customers,\u201d Best Before explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Best Before said it would refund any product bought in its stores should the client not be satisfied with their purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Best-Before.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Best-Before-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-794090\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Best-Before-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Best-Before-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Best-Before-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Best-Before.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Strong growth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The success of the pilot store in Wendywood encouraged Gordon and Soriano to open new stores and launch an online shopping service in Gauteng.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Best Before now has six stores in Johannesburg: Woodmead, Edenvale, Fourways, Northcliff, Krugersdorp, and Boksburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The company also plans to open its first store in Pretoria. Although the location has not been announced yet, it said it would be revealed this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The company has regular special promotions, which it says offer significant discounts over big retailers like Checkers, Shoprite, Spar, and Pick n Pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a recent promotion, it said 40 items in its weekly promotion would cost R2,267 at a traditional supermarket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The same group of products would cost R1,548 at a Best Before clearance store, a 32% saving of R719.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>BusinessTech compared Best Before\u2019s prices with Checkers and Pick n Pay to see how much cheaper it is. The table below summarises the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><div class=\"table-responsive\"><table class=\"table\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Product<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Checkers<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Pick n Pay<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Best Before<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Cadbury Flake<\/td><td>R17.99<\/td><td>R14.99<\/td><td>R12.00<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Juicy Drop Gummies<\/td><td>&#8212;<\/td><td>R49.00<\/td><td>R39.00<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Fitch &amp; Leads Soda Water<\/td><td>R19.99<\/td><td>R19.99<\/td><td>R13.00<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Mugg &amp; Bean Honey Mustard Dressing<\/td><td>R42.99<\/td><td>R44.99<\/td><td>R22.00<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Toblerone White<\/td><td>&#8212;<\/td><td>R37.99<\/td><td>R27.00<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/793900\/pick-n-pay-warning-with-stores-closing-across-south-africa\/\">Pick n Pay warning with stores closing across South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The South African grocery store Best Before offers much lower prices than other retailers by selling short and past-dated food and personal care products.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":794093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[20629,5223,4067,9838],"class_list":["post-794085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-best-before","tag-checkers","tag-pick-n-pay","tag-spar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794085"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":794383,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794085\/revisions\/794383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}