The Chief Operating Officer, Food Concepts, Mr. Paul Farrer, has said that the company is planning to establish 1,000 Chicken Republic outlets across Africa over the next 5 years.
In a statement on Thursday, he said the company has already started driving the objective with the opening of its first Chicken Republic store in South Africa in November 2007.
Food concepts, which started operations in 2001, owns four major food brands, which include a fast food franchise, Chicken Republic; pizza franchise, St Elmo's Pizza; bakery franchise, Butterfield Bakery; and an upscale fine dining restaurant, Reeds Thai Restaurant.
The founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Deji Akinyanju, further stated that Nigeria would be the main market for the Chicken Republic franchise on the continent with about 300 out of the planned 1000 stores.
He said, "This is due to the large population size of Chicken Republic's target audience and our strong belief in the renaissance of the Nigerian Middle class".
The statement added that Food Concepts was planning to grow its Chicken Republic brand aggressively in the South African market with plans to roll out 150stores within the next 5years.
"The company has made plans to leverage off the well established franchise system that exists in South African market", the statement added.
Other countries in Africa that the company intends to target include Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mali, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia and Uganda.
The company is currently concluding plans to embark on a private placement, which will enable it raise fresh equity funds from the market to be used for its expansion drive and intends to list its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange by the end of the second quarter of 2008. |
