Durban - Scooters, the pizza delivery chain in which Nando's has a 27 percent stake, has doubled the number of its outlets over the past six months through its successful expansion into Gauteng.
The chain, which launched in Durban in September 2000, now has 29 branches: 14 in KwaZulu-Natal, 11 in Gauteng, one in the Northern Province and three in the Eastern Cape.
The mainly franchised business anticipates a R46 million annual turnover to February and is confident that this will more than double to R100 million by February 2003.
Carlo Gonzaga, Scooters' managing director, attributed Scooters' rapid growth in the R1.6 billion pizza market to its quality product and commitment to delivery service excellence.
"While Scooters has never entertained the idea of becoming the market leader, it does aim to be the preferred pizza delivery chain," he said.
The Gauteng expansion was boosted by the acquisition of Hollard Insurance's chain of 10 Chess pizza stores, nine of which have been refurbished and rebranded as Scooters.
While the roll-out lagged the original target of 40 stores by the end of 2001, it was still on track, with the revamped feasibility study completed in August.
"With an average monthly turnover of R222 000 for each store, the company is also well ahead of its budgeted R160 000 ," Gonzaga said.
Bullish about the year ahead, he said the company planned to open between 20 and 23 stores this year, mainly in Johannesburg and the Western Cape, and to boost the number of branches to 80 by the end of next year.
Offshore expansion was inevitable. Scooters would take its first step by opening an outlet in Botswana this year.
"Our alliance with Nando's will really bear fruit as Scooters rides on the back of its successful infrastructure in other markets," Gonzaga said.
While the year ahead would be challenging for food, especially in the competitive pizza market, he said competition provided a yardstick against which to measure products and to raise the bar.
One of the reasons Scooters had avoided any expensive failures was that it had a stringent site-approval policy, grading physical sites and the geography around the proposed delivery area to ensure that deliveries could meet the promised 39-minute deadline.