Published: 21 December 2018

LISTED quick-service restaurant business, Simbisa Brands, has resolved to offer discounts on its prices to customers who pay in US dollars to enhance the entity's foreign currency earnings.

In an operational notice issued yesterday, Simbisa Brands, a division of Innscor Africa Limited said: "For us to remain in business and continue to serve you your favourite meals, we have resolved to discount our prices to below cost where payable in USD so that we start generating the foreign currency we desperately need."

As a company, it said foreign currency was required to meet franchise fee obligations, and to import franchise-related raw materials, which cannot be substituted locally due to intellectual property agreements on brands that include Nando's and Steers.

Simbisa said the import duties and taxes on raw materials also now have to be settled in foreign currency.

"Due to the prevailing national circumstances, all our bankers are failing to provide us with foreign currency at the regulated exchange rate of 1:1 between USD and local dollars," it said. The quick service restaurant business employs 4 000 people and serves at least 4,5 million customers every month.

It said despite the foreign currency challenges it was facing, the business continues to accept Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), local debit cards, mobile money and bond notes as valid modes of payment.

"Our customers will therefore continue to have the option to purchase their favourite meals using any of these payment methods," it said.

The division was unbundled from Innscor on October 1, 2015 and is listed separately on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. It runs portfolios such as Chicken Inn, Creamy Inn, Fish Inn, Bakers Inn and Pizza Inn. The quick service restaurant business opened its first Chicken Inn outlet in Harare in 1987.

Over the years, the business unit has expanded to over 170 outlets in Zimbabwe and more than 209 outlets in the region through the addition of new brands and the franchising of existing brands through third-party licences.

In 1998, Innscor listed on the ZSE, utilising the quick service restaurant operation to spread its foothold into Africa as a diversified pan-African operation opening outlets in Zambia, Swaziland Lesotho, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Botswana, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mauritius.
- chronicle