{"id":853433,"date":"2026-03-28T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=853433"},"modified":"2026-03-27T15:41:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T13:41:06","slug":"the-most-popular-fast-food-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/853433\/the-most-popular-fast-food-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"The most popular fast food in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In its recent report on buying behaviour and market segment trends, Eighty20 revealed that chicken is South Africa’s most popular fast food type, dominating the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) sector ahead of pizza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data science and consumer analytics agency Eighty20 revealed that twice as many people reported eating at chicken-led chains such as Chicken Licken and KFC as at pizza-led chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“While chicken’s dominance reflects both affordability and cultural preferences in the South African market,\u00a0pizza’s\u00a0solid\u00a0second-place position in the fast-food hierarchy reflects its widespread availability and competitive pricing across multiple price points,” said Eighty20 Director Andrew Fulton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In addition, (Pizza’s) versatility makes it particularly appealing to family-oriented segments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent statistics show that nearly 22 million people reported eating primarily at chicken QSRs in the last 12 months, and nearly 11 million at primarily pizza QSRs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following chicken and pizza, burgers are the third most popular fast food\u2014nearly 10 million people reported eating at primarily burger QSRs in the last 12 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, KFC was reportedly South Africa’s most popular fast-food chain, with approximately 10 million people purchasing food from the retailer over a four-week period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MAPS consumption data from Eighty20 highlighted a strong association between the preference for chicken and the mass market, and South Africa’s three lowest-earning demographic segments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group also noted that while these lower-income groups typically do not dine out often, they tend to consistently choose chicken when they do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pizza, on the other hand, is heavily preferred by “affluent consumers”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What might be more surprising is that the second most popular option is pizza, ahead of both burgers
and multi-category restaurants, and most likely due to Debonairs being consistently in the
top 5 fast food choices, which are dominated by chicken options,” said Fulton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thriving pizza market <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pizza consumption tends to correlate strongly with both young and mature families, as well as young couples in their 20s and 30s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An interesting finding is that divorcees are the demographic most highly correlated with pizza consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The analysts believe that the growing popularity of pizza in South Africa is linked to the strong financial performance of the well-known pizza brand, Debonairs Pizza, in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Their\u00a02025\u00a0financial year\u00a0showed revenue up to R8.28 billion\u00a0(from R8.02 billion)\u00a0and operating profit up 12.6%,\u00a0with\u00a0a ‘healthy pipeline of new restaurant openings planned for 2026,’ which\u00a0likely includes\u00a0more\u00a0Debonairs\u00a0branches,” Fulton said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, the pizza market in South Africa was valued at US$1.89 billion, which is equivalent to over R31 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pizza market is expected to grow to USD 2.86 billion by 2033, which is over R47 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The growth in the pizza market, however, is driven more by frozen pizza than by restaurant pizza, as frozen pizza accounts for the largest share of the market by product type.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pizza market in South Africa has seen the departure of international giant Domino’s Pizza, which was liquidated in 2020, and Scooters Pizza, which ceased operations a decade ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Scooters Pizza has re-entered the local market by recently opening a new store in Rosebank, Johannesburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South African pizza is earning international recognition. On Time Out Travel’s ranking of the world’s best pizzas, Johannesburg’s Kitchener’s Pizzeria ranked 6th worldwide for its Pepperoni and Hot Honey Pizza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pizza Connection in Cape Town also featured on the global list, securing 11th place with its signature Capetonian pizza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Pizza is not just surviving South Africa’s diverse, competitive fast-food market; it is thriving. As consumption patterns evolve and new segments discover their pizza preferences, one thing\u00a0remains\u00a0certain: this Italian import has found a permanent home in the Rainbow Nation’s dining landscape,” said Fulton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eighty20 revealed that pizza is South Africa’s second-most-popular fast food type, behind chicken, which dominates the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":812065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[20281,17573,9814],"class_list":["post-853433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-chicken","tag-eighty20","tag-pizza"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853433","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\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853433"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":853946,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853433\/revisions\/853946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}