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St. Elmo's Woodfired Pizzeria wants a slice of the entire African market

May 12, 2004

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CAPE TOWN, South Africa—The 30-unit St. Elmo's Woodfired Pizzeria chain based here, wants to expand throughout all of Africa.

According to AllAfrica.com, the company, which claims to be South Africa's first-ever pizza delivery firm, is steering clear of the heavily competitive U.S. and Europe markets and working to break new ground across the relatively uncharted continent.

"With start-up costs similar to South Africa's, we consider Africa a huge untapped market with unlimited potential and very little competition," owner Ian Halfon said. "Our aim is to open up more profitable stores."

With franchises already established successfully over the past three years in Nigeria and Zimbabwe, further growth should come from new outlets in Nigeria and entry into the Ghanaian, Tanzanian and Kenyan markets.

"The major ingredient in being successful in the franchise business is to be flexible and have your ears close to the consumer," Halfon said. "By simply tweaking our taste profile and operating manuals to suit our target market, we have found that our brand is the preferred pizza choice in Zimbabwe and Nigeria."

According to the report, St. Elmo's pizza is defined by the unique flavor gained from baking in wood-fired clay.

The company has three basic unit types: delivery-carryout; full-service dine-in and slices-only stores, stationed in high-foot-traffic areas. As it has expanded, the company has learned to shrink its store sizes from 1,600 square-feet to about 1,000 square-feet, something Halfon believes will help St. Elmo's add 70 new outlets in two years.

"Our aim as franchisor is to open up more profitable stores ... with lower set-up costs as well as streamlined systems that are easy to operate," Halfon said. "This makes the franchisee's life a lot easier while ensuring consistency and adherence to our strict quality control and standards."