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Chicken Licken would sell a portion of its business to either the public or a black economic empowerment (BEE) partner when it listed on the JSE in about 15 months, managing director George Sombonos said yesterday.

August 22, 2007 By SLINDILE KHANYILE Durban – Chicken Licken would sell a portion of its business to either the public or a black economic empowerment (BEE) partner when it listed on the JSE in about 15 months, managing director George Sombonos said yesterday. “Personally, I favour the first option, but when you list, you have all these advisers that you have to listen to, and it is new territory for us,” said Sombonos. “At this stage we do not even know if we would want to retain the control of the business when we list; it is early days.” Chicken Licken aims for turnover of R1 billion by 2010. Sombonos said it would do this by opening more stores in areas where they were not yet available. “We advertise on national television, but we have not taken advantage of that because there are markets that we have not entered,” he said. “I think if we can have 268 stores, we can reach our R1 billion target even before 2010. “If you look at Cape Town, we only have four stores and there is huge potential. There are also places such as Butterworth, Bloemfontein and East London, where we do not have shops.” Chicken Licken has 220 stores countrywide, 60 percent of which are in the hands of black franchisees. Turnover has doubled over five years, reaching R630 million in the year to June. “We consolidated our stores and let go of about 30 marginal stores,” said Sombonos. “We have revamped our look and our menus in the past two to three years, and by March this year we had 20 percent market share.” He added that the company expected market share to grow to between 30 percent and 35 percent in four years. “Generally, the chicken market is growing. More people are moving into the chicken as meat becomes expensive. We will also tap into other people’s markets.” Sombonos said Chicken Licken would soon be available at up-market shopping malls. “We are traditionally a township business and it has been very difficult for us to open shops at the big malls because the centres were not keen. After five years we have convinced them and we are now on the verge of opening” at Cresta in Johannesburg and The Pavilion in Durban. To set up a Chicken Licken franchise requires R1.8 million. The franchisee must have R800 000 capital. Kevin Utian, the managing director of grilled chicken fast food chain Nando’s, said the popularity of chicken in South Africa was growing. “We don’t know how much market share we have, but our growth plans are still on track. Chicken will carry on being popular because it’s healthy and there has been stability in its pricing.” Utian said there were some strategic discussions regarding a BEE partner, but would not give details. Nando’s has 250 outlets in South Africa.