Hungry Lion

AFRICA HUNGRY LION

Expansion through optimised operations and an admirable outlook

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The Continent’s

Progressive

QSR Player

Stellenbosch-based fast food specialist Hungry Lion has found ideal footing for expansion over the coming years, owed to optimised operations and an admirable outlook Writer: Jonathan Dyble | Project Manager: Josh Hyland

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drian Basson is a selfdescribed Afro-optimistic.

“There’s no hiding from the fact that there are a lot of challenges in Africa, but retail is a promising sector when it comes to facilitating opportunities, creating employment and generally building a business that can have a widespread impact,” he says.

“When you reach a remote town with an empty plot, the local people don’t often have much. But as we’ve built new stores and helped to launch new shopping centres, we’ve been able to not only witness, but also facilitate the construction of new, thriving ecosystems. We’re proud to be a business that contributes to the success of these societies – I guess you could say we’re a capitalist business with a socialist outlook.”

Basson, now CEO, became part of the Hungry Lion story in 2001 and has seen

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the company come a long way over the past two decades to be the responsible, esteemed organisation it is today.

Having opened its first restaurant in South Africa in 1997, the business today proudly operates a network constituting over 200 stores across South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Angola, with over 4,000 Hungry Lion employees. Looking at the bigger picture, however, such statistics only touch the surface of what the brand is bringing to the region.

“In many ways I like to think that our product is an afterthought in what we’re looking to achieve,” explains Basson. “Yes, serving bigger portions, more chips and more smiles is key to our operations, but it’s just one part of our overriding goal – providing joy to our employees, customers and local communities through food, served with passion.”

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AFRICA

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LEADERSHIP FOCUS ADRIAN BASSON Adrian Basson studied accounting at Stellenbosch University, moving to London in 1999 upon graduating to work for Compaq as part of its internet and ecommerce division.

From here, he then spent a year running his family liquor business before joining Shoprite in 2001 as the Hungry Lion Divisional Manager. Coinciding with this, his family purchased 50 percent of the Hungry Lion business, with Basson himself then working at Shoprite Holdings as a Director until 2017, including a stint as the company’s Chief Digital Officer.

Re-joining the Hungry Lion Division full time in January 2017, Basson’s family then purchased the remaining 50 percent stake in the business on July 1, 2018. Now a fully-independent company, Basson stands as the full time CEO of Hungry Lion, also running DigiCloud Africa – the sole distributor of Google Cloud products in Africa.

This ethos is relatively new to the firm, becoming more of a core focus during the company’s major rebranding process that kickstarted in 2014. Having originally been part of the Shoprite Group, Africa’s largest food supermarket chain, Hungry Lion is now a totally independent company in its own right with a unique brand and character.

“In the beginning, we weren’t really building a brand,” reveals Basson.

“We purely sold chicken and chips at an affordable price on a somewhat ad-hoc basis. However, we eventually found ourselves with 100-plus stores, and with the economic challenges that came around in 2008/09, we realised that stores without a brand, a story, and an experience would fail to deliver in the long term. It was a case of changing with the times and we invested a lot into the design of our stores, our product quality and consistency, together with the development of the brand itself.”

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HUHTAMAKI

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ounded in 1920 in Finland, the Espoo-based company has grown to encompass 77 manufacturing units and 24 sales offices in 34 different countries around the world.

As a global specialist in packaging for food and drink, Huhtamaki is a Key Partner to Hungry Lion.

Dedicated to making every consumer experience memorable, enjoyable and safe, the company’s overriding purpose is to help great products reach more people in a reliable and seamless manner.

Doing so, Huhtakmaki is able to successfully build brands, protect company reputations and help to open up new, fruitful opportunities in new markets.

Huhtamaki Foodservice technologies include paper and plastic forming, so you can always find the right solution to fit your specific needs. Our packaging is proven and tested in use by many of the worlds leading quick service , fast casual and coffee chains.

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E client.service@huhtamaki.com T +27 (0) 11 730 6300 Toll Free - 0800 006 985

www.huhtamaki.com

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“Helping great products reach more people more easily�

We strive to develop more sustainable packaging solutions whenever practically possible.

Sustainability is an integrated part of our business For us, sustainability means environmental protection, social equity, and economic efficiency.

We have a broad range of high quality packaging solutions for modern foodservice, vending and fast moving consumer goods.

client.service@huhtamaki.com www.huhtamaki.com Tell : +27 (0) 11 730 6300 Toll Free - 0800 006 985 Huhtamaki Foodservice South Africa 69 Industry Road, New Era, Springs, Gauteng, South Africa, 1550

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Since transitioning from being a business-centric to a customer-centric brand, Hungry Lion has reaped the rewards with the business undergoing stratospheric growth over the past few years.

Adding a modern twist

Moving in this re-energised direction, strategy changes quickly followed for Hungry Lion, evidence of which can be found in the firm’s increasing use and the implementation of revolutionary technologies.

Fast forward to today, the company now benefits from artificial intelligence, automated system checks, cloud computing and live dashboards – technologies which serve multiple purposes in the way of driving the business forward. This together with an always connected workforce, makes executing operationally so much more efficient.

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QSR – AN INDUSTRY ON THE RISE According to a recent report from Analytical Research Cognizance, the global quick service restaurant market is expected to maintain a compound annual growth rate of 8.3 percent over the next five years, while the IMARC Group has revealed that West Africa’s food service market became valued at $5 billion in 2017.

African QSR is undoubtedly a sector on the up, owed to sweeping social and economic changes such as rising employment rates and GDP that are being witnessed across the continent, with consumers finding themselves with greater levels of disposable income and rising inclination towards purchasing fast food.

Demographic alterations are similarly contributing. Africa has experienced continual urbanisation since the latter half of the 20th century and its a region with one of the world’s youngest populations, a makeup that has paved the way for the widespread adoption of new lifestyles and greater access to a wider range of eating options.

Combined with rising exposure to digital media and a number of other factors, these trends are dictating the rise of quick service restaurants across the continent.

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“I’ve always had a connection with technology,” Basson reveals. “I used to work in the technology division of Compaq in London and also formerly as the Chief Digital Officer of Shoprite for a period. We live in an era where we can augment the people with technology to do the repetitive stuff, so that they can focus on the more human touches.”

In a space where most others in the fast food industry are franchised and owner-managed, Hungry Lion is unique in the African landscape, with almost all stores being fully-owned and managed from its Head Office. This is where automated systems and clever use of technology comes to the forefront in managing the business over vast distances and across borders.

“With technology comes data and with data comes insight,” Basson continues. “Using our systems, we’re able to see the performance of each of our stores in real time, have an overview of customer experience, and execute plans to fix problems at speed and scale.

These capabilities would never have been possible if we didn’t have the right

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technologies in place.” With full visibility of information comes accountability, since everyone can see what needs to be done and if it was done. Transparency is a crucial merit of these technologies, a cultural trait of Hungry Lion that is accentuated in other ways.

Basson adds: “We have a network of area, country and regional managers who act as an extension of our Head office in Stellenbosch. Head office employees pay regular visits to different regions to keep a finger on the pulse of local operations. Our area and country managers, in turn, come to Head Office regularly for updates to business processes, training, and meetings. This constant exposure in both directions ensures that best practises are shared and implemented to all stores quickly.”

Prosperous career planning

Combined with both these expansive technologies and a transparent, remodelled structure, Hungry Lion recognises that its staff are key to achieving the firm’s ongoing ambitions.

To this end, the company ensures

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FREDDY HIRSCH

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t Freddy Hirsch, providing value is our biggest priority.

We’ll assist you with product development for flavour profiling and product formulations, and offer advice and information on food industry regulations, meat formulation costing, and cost engineering of products.

Our butchers training school and customised training programmes are designed to be conducted at our customers’ sites. We also offer in-house design of CAD layouts for new facilities and optimisation of current facilities.

Our team of qualified maintenance technicians is equipped to ensure the optimal running of customer operations, and assist with preventative maintenance schedules on equipment.

T 021 507 4500 E info@freddyhirsch.co.za

www.freddyhirsch.co.za that it provides extensive benefits to its employees, bolstering its position as an employer of choice and equally its talent retention capabilities.

Such initiatives include the introduction of E-learning materials in five languages and the company’s live in-house training platform from LessonDesk, a comprehensive new employee assistance programme, access to affordable healthcare for employees and more specialised and tailored training programmes.

What’s more, Hungry Lion has a strong focus on career planning, testament to its culture of internal promotion.

“Typically speaking, joining a fast food business as the lowest level of employee, the pay isn’t fantastic and it’s not uncommon for these workers to have bigger aspirations,” explains Basson. “What we’ve realised is you can either listen to and facilitate these ambitions, or your workers will leave and look for opportunities elsewhere.

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A family of flavour ds” “Proud Supplier to Hungry Lion Fast Foo Founded in 1956 by current Chairperson, Freddy Hirsch, our company has grown into Southern Africa’s largest supplier of industrial spices, casings, and meat processing equipment.

We service thousands of customers, including independent butcheries, Quick Service Restaurants (QSR’s), major retail chain stores, meat processing factories, and poultry factories.

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A Proud Supplier of Check-Out Packaging to Hungry Lion

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We like to pursue the former, providing clear career paths for our inspirational and aspirational workers.

From cashiers to controllers to junior managers to regional managers, and so on, this personal growth structure is in place at Hungry Lion.”

A core part of the company’s ethos, providing key opportunities to reward loyalty and ambition, Hungry Lion offers not just a job but an allencompassing opportunity to build a prosperous career.

Asked about a particular such initiative that springs to mind, Basson is quick to highlight the company’s efforts in supporting the Zambian people during a cholera outbreak at the beginning of 2017.

He continues: “We immediately lowered the prices of our food, ensuring people could get nutritious, safe and affordable food, we donated money to the government that was used to help with the clean-up process.

We even provided sanitation kits to our staff, helping them clean their own A sound, responsible outlook living environments to ensure their Such a humble and grounded approach family’s health.” is not only applied internally, but Having developed a culture that equally externally through a number is firmly centred around providing of corporate social responsibility benefit to all people, whether it’s initiatives. supporting local communities or These are built around Hungry providing unrivalled, progressive Lion’s three-pillar CSR strategy, with career opportunities, Hungry Lion’s the organisation contributing towards outlook is unique and admirable. hunger alleviation, championing Opportunity is a word that is change in local communities and creating an atmosphere of excitement promoting skills development. within the company at the moment, Between February and March of this with continued expansion firmly year alone, for example, the company on the table for Hungry Lion after provided food for the attendees experiencing double digit percent of a seminar addressing the issue organic growth over the past two of domestic violence, pupils of an years. underprivileged primary school during “We’ve set 20 new stores as a a field trip and fire fighters in the benchmark, but realistically this is a Western Cape, while also supporting ball-park figure on the conservative a Soweto children’s home and a local side,” reveals Basson. “If we can open police station’s cricket tournament for 50 stores then we’ll do it – if we find rural schools. a good site where we can profitably “It’s an element to our business trade, we will open. There aren’t any that we take pride in,” reveals Basson. specific limitations.”

“We like to show that we care for our New systems and optimised communities, customers and especially procedures in place, last year’s our employees and their families. corporate action, focus on organic There’s a lot of need in Africa from growth, and consolidation allowed a poverty standpoint and being in Hungry Lion to not only transition into the food business we’re able to help independence, but equally provided local communities in addressing such the platform for the company to gear issues. I wouldn’t say we have a set up for full throttle expansion over the agenda – ad hoc opportunities arise, coming years. and we react accordingly in each of “We’re realistic at the same time,” the locations that we’re based, helping Basson continues. “We understand projectsconquer are particularly to give people a sense of purpose and thatOverseas we cannot thepopular whole promote skills of local communities.” continent in 2019 or 2020, but the plan

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TILESPACE

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ur association with the Hungry Lion brand and the accompanying supply of highquality tiles over the past 20+ years, is one of which we are not only very proud , but are extremely grateful for.

We at Tilespace have been privileged to have been treated as integral partners

by Adrian Basson and his team and have, since inception, watched the Hungry Lion chew up its opposition as it “Roars through Africa”.

We salute them too for their caring for others through their many upliftment programs.

T jhb (+27) 11 796 5100 T ct (+27) 21 003 4423 E sales@tilespace.co.za

www.tilespace.co.za

is to grow as fast as possible. Africa has around 1.2 billon people but in the next three decades this number will double. Further, there are 54 countries across Africa, countries that we know we’ll have a good chance of being able to expand into, whether it be through franchises, joint ventures, or other kinds of partnerships. The opportunities are immense, and I feel our business is a prime example as to why it’s a great time to be investing on the continent right now. I just hope that others will come and join us in the fun!”

Hungry Lion Tel: +27 21 200 7777 talktous@hungrylion.co.za www.hungrylion.co.za

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Where distinctive style, craftsmanship and superior quality meet to bring about inspired beauty.

We have showrooms in Johannesburg and Cape Town; where you can view, touch and connect with our exclusive products sourced from our international partners. www.tilespace.co.za sales@tilespace.co.za jhb (+27) 11 796 5100 ct (+27) 21 003 4423

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Trumali House Trumali St Harringtons Place Stellenbosch 7600 South Africa Tel: +021 200 7777 www.hungrylion.co.za

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