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Debating which South African supermarket brand is the best is as heated as the Johannesburg versus Cape Town debate, if not more.

As writers, we prefer to keep it objective, and we know better than to go there so early on a Monday.

In some ways, though, it is worth discussing which supermarket is the best between Checkers, Pick n Pay, Spar, Food Lover’s Market, Woolworths, or Shoprite.

Especially if there is an inkling to open a franchise under one of the brands and start running your own brand-name supermarket.

First up, let’s just get the fact that Woolworths, Shoprite, and Checkers don’t franchise at all out of the way.

You can go all-in on owning your own Spar, Pick n Pay, Food Lover’s Market, or OK supermarket (owned by the Shoprite Group), as long as you have some cash to spare and retail industry experience under the belt.

With more than 1 000 stores in South Africa, collectively seeing roughly 48 million customers per month turning over around R80 billion a year, per Business Insider SA, Spar is a promising place to start.

You can open a Spar store in one of three ways: build your own, buy an existing store, or convert another store into a new Spar store.

At R5 million, KwikSpar is the cheapest ground-up Spar franchise to open at the moment. Otherwise, a regular Spar goes for R8 million to start, while a SuperSpar can cost R10 million to open.

Whichever way you go, 40% of the investment must be available as unencumbered cash and retailers are expected to pay a “guild fee” of 1% of the store’s average monthly turnover.

The other thing is that there are specific rules and regulations for stores to follow according to Spar’s head office, who also provides start-up and ongoing support to ensure consistency across stores.

Because Pick n Pay hasn’t publically released the cost of establishing a new franchise, we can’t be sure, but reports say it can be fairly expensive:

Costs vary according to the size and nature of the store.

According to reports, you can, however, expect to pay between R10 to R13 million for a new Pick n Pay store, with at least 10% of this required as an upfront fee.

Nobody simply opens a Pick n Pay franchise, though.

That’s because as a potential Pick n Pay franchise owner, you have to undergo an intensive evaluation and finish up a full training course before getting started.

Being an owner will then allow you access to the parent company’s logistics, supply chains, and other technologies, which can help you with your own journey.

That’s pretty standard for other leading supermarket franchises, as well.

For more information on opening an OK Foods or a Food Lover’s Market, head here.

[source:businessinsider]