{"id":853833,"date":"2026-03-14T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=853833"},"modified":"2026-03-15T06:39:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T04:39:23","slug":"ultra-luxury-retailer-that-started-as-a-petrol-station-slowly-taking-over-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/853833\/ultra-luxury-retailer-that-started-as-a-petrol-station-slowly-taking-over-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Ultra-luxury retailer that started as a petrol station slowly taking over South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An ultra-luxury retail concept that began at a petrol station forecourt is rapidly expanding across South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a Moneyweb report<\/a>, the latest expansion will see a large new The Pantry store opening at Mall of Africa, one of the country\u2019s biggest retail centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Attacq development executive David Oosthuizen, the new Pantry location will span about 1,300 square metres, and construction has already been approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attacq estimated the development will cost around R54.3 million, while the Marble Hospitality Group will also invest heavily in fitting out the store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The store will occupy the western corner of the Mall of Africa along Karkloof Crescent, directly opposite the new Aspire residential development being built in partnership with property developer Tricolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group already has a pop-up Pantry store at the mall, which opened in mid-October and is believed to have been used to test demand in the Waterfall and broader Midrand area before committing to a permanent location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fifth standalone location adds to the existing stores in Bassonia, south of Johannesburg, Rosebank, Johannesburg, and Hazelwood, Pretoria, which opened in October last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new Pantry store will also open when the Olympus Development in Sandton opens, which will also feature a Marble restaurant and the group\u2019s first foray into the hotel space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pantry brand has been a huge success, and started as the first luxury petrol station in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pantry was started by Celebrity chef David Higgs and serial businessman Gary Kyriacou.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pair have launched several successful high-end restaurants, including Marble, Saint, and Zioux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the launch of Marble in 2016 and the success of Saint in Sandton in 2018, the group was well established in the premium restaurant market. However, the Covid-19 pandemic dramatically changed their outlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pantry’s beginnings <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lockdowns hit the restaurant industry particularly hard, forcing the founders to rethink how their businesses were structured and how they could survive similar disruptions in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While one of their new ventures was Zioux, which focuses on fine Asian cuisine and differs significantly from their earlier restaurants, the pair also began exploring entirely new concepts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They eventually settled on an unexpected idea, which was a luxury petrol station forecourt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Higgs previously explained<\/a> that the concept grew out of the need to build a business model that would be more resilient if restaurants were forced to close again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team explored several ideas during the pandemic before landing on the Pantry concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea was to combine the convenience of a petrol station shop with the quality and atmosphere of a premium hospitality venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pantry stores offer a curated selection of wines, grab-and-go meals, fresh-baked goods, quality coffee, and locally sourced produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experience is designed to feel more like a boutique food market than a traditional forecourt store, with careful attention paid to the layout and even the music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concept took off quickly, with the founders reporting that demand was so strong in the early days that they struggled to keep up with how quickly products were selling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with the launch of Marble, the rapid growth forced the group to rethink aspects of its business structure and staffing to ensure the stores could operate efficiently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pantry is now a well-known brand in Gauteng and regularly introduces new products, adjusts store layouts to improve sales, and tweaks the customer experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Rosebank branch is attached to a petrol station, other locations such as Hazelwood in Pretoria and Bassonia in Johannesburg operate as standalone stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These larger sites have allowed the group to expand its offerings to include fresh grocery items, while also providing more parking, which is a challenge at the busy Rosebank location, particularly on weekends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The Pantry Images<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
The Pantry in Rosebank, Johannesburg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Pantry in Rosebank, Johannesburg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Pantry in Rosebank, Johannesburg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Pantry in Rosebank, Johannesburg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Pantry in Rosebank, Johannesburg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Pantry in Rosebank, Johannesburg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
The Pantry in Rosebank, Johannesburg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
The Pantry in Rosebank, Johannesburg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
The Pantry in Hazelwood, Pretoria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
The Pantry in Hazelwood, Pretoria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
The Pantry in Hazelwood, Pretoria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
The Pantry in Hazelwood, Pretoria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
The Pantry in Hazelwood, Pretoria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An ultra-luxury retail concept that began at a petrol station forecourt is rapidly expanding across South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":850518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[24994,11178,24993,24992,853,24033],"class_list":["post-853833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-hazelwood","tag-mall-of-africa","tag-omni-square-shopping-centre","tag-rosebank","tag-south-africa","tag-the-pantry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853833","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853833"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":853951,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853833\/revisions\/853951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/850518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}