{"id":867789,"date":"2026-08-04T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=867789"},"modified":"2026-08-04T15:53:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T13:53:51","slug":"how-much-it-costs-to-open-a-top-fast-food-franchise-in-south-africa-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/867789\/how-much-it-costs-to-open-a-top-fast-food-franchise-in-south-africa-4\/","title":{"rendered":"How much it costs to open a top fast-food franchise in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Fast food is everywhere in South Africa, and the cost of owning a franchise can vary greatly depending on the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many fast-food businesses, such as McDonald&#8217;s and KFC, do not own their hundreds of stores in the country but instead pass operations to franchisees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The franchisee pays the initial startup costs and pays yearly royalties to the business, usually around 6% of its turnover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Along with royalties, franchise owners are also often required to pay a portion of their turnover toward the company\u2019s global marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The franchisee can then use the brand name for marketing and access an existing customer base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This model has recently come under scrutiny from the National Competition Commission (NCC), which raised concerns about unfair practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The NCC said it would be launching an investigation into the sector to establish if there are any practices which prohibit fair competition among businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It said it would also be looking at the potentially unfair relationship between franchisees and established businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These businesses enter negotiations with far more capital and knowledge, leading franchisees to accept potentially unfair terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The cost of a new franchise is high, as franchisees must make a large initial investment, much of which is often paid out of pocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are also usually upfront franchising fees, which can range from R60,000 to R250,000, as well as administrative fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While most fast-food companies do not list their franchise-start-up costs upfront, many sites, such as WhichFranchise and Franchiseek, can provide estimated figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These amounts can vary widely by location and building size, but they provide an overview of what a prospective franchisee should expect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some businesses also have separate estimates for in-line or drive-thru franchises, with costs often being higher for the latter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Franchise fees and initial investments for fast food companies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><div class=\"table-responsive\"><table class=\"table\" class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Company name<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Franchise fee<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Initial investment<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>KFC<\/td><td>\u2013<\/td><td>R6 million<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Chicken Licken<\/td><td>R180,000<\/td><td>R4.8 million (Inline)<br>R6.8 million (Drive-thru)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Steers&nbsp;<\/td><td>R68,000<\/td><td>R3.75 million<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>RocoMamas<\/td><td>R145,000<\/td><td>R4.5 million<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Debonairs<\/td><td>R50,000 \u2013 R68,000<\/td><td>R2.2 million<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Spur<\/td><td>R80,000 \u2013 R200,000<\/td><td>R6.1 million \u2013 R13 million<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Nando&#8217;s<\/td><td>R255,000<\/td><td>R5.7 million (Inline)<br>R6.9 million (Drive-Thru)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Romans<\/td><td>R90,000<\/td><td>R2.3 million<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Simply Asia<\/td><td>R100,000<\/td><td>R900,000 \u2013 R1.3 million<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>John Dorys<\/td><td>R100,000<\/td><td>R4.5 million<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>McDonald&#8217;s<\/td><td>R250,000<\/td><td>R2.8 million (Inline)<br>R3.5 million (Drive-Thru)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The cost of a franchise<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The most expensive franchising option is Spur, but only if the restaurant is a standalone building, which is uncommon among many fast-food franchises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The cheapest option is Simply Asia, which often has smaller restaurants and lacks the brand recognition of some other franchises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to the initial costs, many businesses require franchisees to complete up to six months of training before they can open their restaurant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Franchise agreements can be attractive to prospective restaurant owners, as they provide training, marketing, and brand recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, many franchise owners can struggle with specific partnership agreements, such as procurement clauses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many franchises require all of their stores to use specific, approved suppliers, preventing people from sourcing their own items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These are issues which the NCC intends to investigate to establish whether franchisees are able to effectively compete with other restaurants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The inquiry could change many fast food companies\u2019 existing business models and lead to sweeping changes across the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The franchise industry is worth roughly R1 trillion in South Africa, and employs approximately 500,000 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The industry is dominated by KFC, which holds approximately 25% of the market share, with companies such as Debonairs, Steers, and Wimpy following close behind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fast food is everywhere in South Africa, and the cost of owning a franchise can vary greatly depending on the business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":784906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2084655858374295754","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2166609780826088","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17891853483396823","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872,1],"tags":[21526,10215,21921,9810,3886,5675,2787,12438,25950,16970,10435,9812],"class_list":["post-867789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-trending","tag-chicken-licken","tag-debonairs","tag-john-dorys","tag-kfc","tag-mcdonalds","tag-nandos","tag-ncc","tag-rocomamas","tag-romans","tag-simply-asia","tag-spur","tag-steers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867789","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\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867789"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":867926,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867789\/revisions\/867926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/784906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}