{"id":861920,"date":"2026-06-05T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=861920"},"modified":"2026-06-05T12:30:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:30:31","slug":"bad-news-for-mcdonalds-wimpy-and-steers-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wealth\/861920\/bad-news-for-mcdonalds-wimpy-and-steers-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad news for McDonald\u2019s, Wimpy, and Steers in South Africa\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Recent statistics reveal a decline in the number of people visiting fast-food restaurants in South Africa, according to a report by the consumer strategy and analytics company Eighty20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This trend is evident from the increasing percentage of respondents who reported not eating at a fast-food outlet in the past four weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the overall number of consumers dining out has remained stable over the year, they are simply doing so less frequently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eighty20’s Director, Andrew Fulton, noted a shift towards more affordable protein options, particularly chicken. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brands traditionally associated with burgers, such as McDonald\u2019s, Wimpy, and Steers, have seen a decline, while chicken-focused brands like Hungry Lion, Pedros, and Nando\u2019s, along with two pizza chains, have gained popularity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fulton said that this trend aligns with recent media coverage highlighting how Hungry Lion and Pedros have been expanding their store networks and experiencing strong growth in foot traffic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, brands like Wimpy and The Fish and Chip Company have encountered slower growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eighty20\u2019s MAPS data, a nationally representative survey of 20,000 people conducted by the Marketing Research Foundation (MRF), asked respondents which fast-food outlets they visited over the past month, three months, and year, alongside various behavioral questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In mid-2025, beef inflation surged sharply, peaking between May and July with prices jumping nearly 30% year-on-year, marking a severe blow to meat affordability in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the past year, meat has dominated the inflation story, with at least half of the top ten highest-inflation items being meat products, while chicken prices also remained high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Eighty20, South Africa has experienced its worst outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in decades, affecting cattle and dairy herds across all nine provinces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This supply squeeze includes not only livestock lost to illness but also healthy animals being quarantined, compounding the shortage and resulting in higher prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The effects of inflation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The image above shows how the cost of inputs for a homemade burger has increased over the past year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only tomato sauce saw price growth below inflation, while most inputs increased at more than double the inflation rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using a Big Mac as a reference point, its price rose from approximately R55 (~$3) in May 2025 to R70.90 ($4.30) by 17 May, 2026, as listed on the McDonald\u2019s app. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This represents nearly a 30% increase in rand terms and a 43% increase in dollar terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent financial results from two major food groups, Spur and Famous Brands, reflect these trends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spur’s 2026 financial results indicate an 8% increase in sales and that average spending per person grew above menu price inflation, albeit with only a slight increase in annual customer counts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This suggests price-led growth rather than volume-led growth. Famous Brands\u2019 latest results showed that patrons continue to dine out but are opting for smaller, simpler, and more affordable items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to changing consumer preferences, Famous Brands is investing more in smaller-format restaurants and drive-thrus to cater to demand for value and convenience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another dataset, BrandMapp, which focuses on wealthier South Africans living in households earning R10,000 or more, shows a related trend, possibly driven by health concerns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It finds that 1.7 million people plan to eat less meat (similar to those intending to reduce alcohol consumption), with 400,000 planning to become vegetarian and a quarter of a million intending to go vegan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The top ten fast-food outlets include two pizza restaurants, Debonairs and Roman\u2019s Pizza, alongside primarily beef-focused and burger establishments: McDonald\u2019s, Spur, Burger King, and Steers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, Eighty20 reported that one in four South Africans dined at KFC last month, surpassing the combined customer count of the other five outlets in the top ten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recent statistics reveal a decline in the number of people visiting fast-food restaurants in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":862659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9880],"tags":[17573,9399],"class_list":["post-861920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wealth","tag-eighty20","tag-fast-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861920","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=861920"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":862501,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861920\/revisions\/862501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}