Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Ibe yimpumelelo itumente yolutsha eQhorha
  • A good financial planner is indispensable
  • Exciting encounters in LFA Premier League weekend games
  • Thembie is working towards STARDOM!
  • From Robben Island to the world
  • A woman with zeal in a male-dominated business
  • WBHO contract and supply application closing date: 31 March 2023
  • Are we protecting the vulnerable?
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Grocott's Mail
You are at:Home»Uncategorized»Franchise giants or lekker local?
Uncategorized

Franchise giants or lekker local?

Grocott's MailBy Grocott's MailFebruary 15, 2013No Comments3 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

 What’s the deal with franchises in town? Are they too big and pricey for Grahamstown? Or are we just too small for them?

 What’s the deal with franchises in town? Are they too big and pricey for Grahamstown? Or are we just too small for them?

For almost a year a billboard on African Street asked residents if they’d like to open up an Ocean Basket restaurant in Grahamstown.

The successful national seafood chain didn’t seem to get any bites however, and now the billboard has disappeared.

Despite the somewhat limited number of franchises in town, they still offer healthy competition for local businesses. “It’s not that franchises cannot do well here in Grahamstown, in fact that do very well,” said Grahamstown Woolworths store manager Elmarie Vos.

“It’s the local businesses that don’t like having franchises as competition.”

Vos believes chains like Woolworths are known to have higher standards of conduct and “franchises also make competition because they are usually associated with a group of familiar faces which people really like”.

This may be true, but after two years Ocean Basket still hasn’t secured a franchisee in Grahamstown.

An Ocean Basket spokesperson suggested this could be because people from smaller towns may not be brand conscious enough to be viable options.

Local restaurant owners see things quite differently, though. “Any competitive is good competition,” according to Red Café owner Louise Boy.

“If a business is happy about their product then they should not be fearful of bigger, more well-known businesses.”

One restaurateur who has past experience with owning a franchise said she doesn’t worry about competing with large brands now that she has her own business as everyone has to work to be successful.

“In the end, people here have a huge choice and they can choose whatever they want and this creates more competition,” said Stella Swanepoel, owner of Cafe Delizzia.

Swanepoel transformed her premises on High Street from the franchised Dulcé Café to Delizzia over a year ago.

She admits the change was initially “bad for business”, but owning a franchise taught her important tricks of the trade for her own business.

But there’s one big name on everybody’s lips that still manages to evade people’s bellies.

For years students and fast-food lovers have speculated about the absence of a McDonald’s in town, with the nearest branches being in Port Elizabeth East London.

Not giving any concrete information about adding that big yellow 'M' to the City of Saints’s skyline, Sechaba Motsieloa, corporate affairs director of McDonald’s South Africa said, “McDonald’s has a national footprint, with restaurants in all nine provinces of South Africa. We will continue to explore all opportunities to be closer to our customers, as they arise”.

Previous ArticleMadibasfontein can’t beat G’town’s new name!
Next Article Rhino horror remembered
Grocott's Mail

Comments are closed.

Tweets by Grocotts
Newsletter



Listen

The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has launched Engagement in Action, a new podcast which aims to bring to life some of the many ways in which the University interacts with communities around it. Check it out below.

Humans of Makhanda

Humans of Makhanda

Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

© 2023 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.