{"id":873882,"date":"2026-09-06T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=873882"},"modified":"2026-09-04T17:56:02","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:56:02","slug":"close-of-a-25-year-chapter-in-south-africa-for-popular-coffee-chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/873882\/close-of-a-25-year-chapter-in-south-africa-for-popular-coffee-chain\/","title":{"rendered":"Close of a 25-year chapter in South Africa for popular coffee chain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Vida e Caff\u00e8\u2019s acquisition by Shoprite marks a major new chapter for the coffee chain, ending 25 years of independent ownership and bringing the business into South Africa\u2019s largest retail group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shoprite announced<\/a> the acquisition in its annual results for the 2026 financial year, alongside the acquisition of R&A Cellular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deal was signed on 20 August 2026 and comprises Vida\u2019s South African and international operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from the coffee chain, Vida e Caff\u00e8 also owns Sweetbeet, a fast-casual health-food restaurant brand that it acquired in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that Shoprite now owns the largest coffee shop chain in South Africa and across the rest of the continent, as well as a health-food restaurant brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shoprite CEO Pieter Engelbrecht said Vida has established itself as South Africa\u2019s leading coffee brand and would boost the group\u2019s platform for future growth and customer engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIts broad and demographically diverse customer base is supported by a range of store formats, including high street, forecourt, drive-thru, corporate office and retail locations, as well as an increasingly integrated digital offering,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVida is a business we greatly admire, and we look forward to learning from its success while supporting its next phase of growth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company has grown significantly since opening its first store on Kloof Street in Cape Town in 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with CapeTalk<\/a>, Vida e Caff\u00e8 CEO Darren Levy said Vida recently reached another major milestone, opening its 400th store in June before adding another ten outlets within weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long journey, starting from the founders who had the vision to bring that high street coffee with that infused, sort of Afro-Portuguese, energy back in 2001,\u201d Levy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He credited the company\u2019s growth to the people who helped build the brand over the past quarter-century, including its employees, franchisees and business partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a job contributed to, and an outcome contributed to by an incredible bunch of partners, team members, wonderful franchisees who\u2019ve been loyal and invested heavily into the brand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More opportunities for the Vida brand <\/h2>\n\n\n
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Darren Levy said Vida e Caff\u00e8<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Levy said he and the wider Vida e Caff\u00e8 team will remain involved in the business following the acquisition. He said this was an important part of discussions with Shoprite before the deal was announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA key part has been the continuation of the team. The team is very much part of the vision going forward. We\u2019re just going to be in a new home,\u201d Levy said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While financial details surrounding the acquisition remain confidential, Levy described the negotiations as constructive and positive for those involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome of those discussions and mechanics and valuations are still under non-disclosure, but it was a very smooth and honourable and honest negotiation that ended very well for everybody, I believe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Levy said Vida e Caff\u00e8 brings capabilities to Shoprite that complement the retailer\u2019s existing operations and coffee ambitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These include the company\u2019s experience across sourcing, manufacturing, roasting, distribution and operating coffee stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe model that we have in coffee and QSR is obviously unique\u2014the way we source product, the way we manufacture, roast, distribute and produce and store,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the acquisition should ultimately support the further expansion of the Vida brand, particularly as South Africa\u2019s coffee market continues to grow. \u201cIt means positive outcomes. The market is growing aggressively,\u201d Levy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that South Africa has developed a highly competitive coffee industry, ranging from major chains to independent artisanal operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re privileged to have an exceptionally high standard of coffee in this country across the chains and the independents and the small, one-man artisanal speciality coffee shops. And we all drive each other to be better and better for the consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Levy said coffee has increasingly become part of everyday South African culture and that Vida has deliberately expanded beyond traditional high streets and affluent shopping centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always subscribed to the belief that coffee should be made available to as wide an audience as possible and as many communities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company has expanded through partnerships with forecourt brands and into office buildings, hospitals, secondary cities and even airlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Levy said Shoprite\u2019s extensive footprint and distribution network could create further opportunities to take Vida e Caff\u00e8 into more communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPartnering with Shoprite and their distribution and platform across many of their brands gives us another avenue to grow the platform and the brand even further,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photos of Vida e Caff\u00e8<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Vida e Caff\u00e8\u2019s acquisition marks a major new chapter for the coffee chain, ending 25 years of independent ownership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":873923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2096524078311944278","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2197441191076280","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18128145646789292","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[7520,853,11363],"class_list":["post-873882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-shoprite","tag-south-africa","tag-vida-e-caffe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873882","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=873882"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":873924,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873882\/revisions\/873924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}