Food Lover's Market is a South African

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A c ...

that operates franchised

grocery stores A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, an ...

and

convenience stores A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

. The company is a member of the Franchise Association of South Africa. As of 2022, there are over 300 stores in South Africa, 2 in

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

and 3 in

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

History

The company was established in 1993 as a single Fruit & Veg City store in Access Park, a factory outlet complex in the

Kenilworth Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Warwick (district), Warwick District in Warwickshire, England, south-west of Coventry, north of Warwick and north-west of London. It lies on Finham Brook, a ...

suburb of

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. The outlet was converted from an existing business, The Carrot King, into a Fruit & Veg City store. Food Lover's Market was founded by brothers Brian and Mike Coppin, whose father had been the Director of OK Bazaars, a retail chain that was acquired by the Shoprite Group in 1997. When it opened, the company sourced its products directly from farmers and municipal markets and priced them aggressively in order to grow in the market whilst competing with existing large retail chains. In 1995, the brothers were approached by someone wanting to operate a store in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

, and the first franchise store opened. Franchises in

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State (province), Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legisla ...

, and

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

followed. The company opened its first store in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

in 1999. In 2012, Food Lover's Market expanded its offering to include non-food items and announced that it would be converting all Fruit & Veg City outlets to its Food Lover's Market brand. In 2014, the company announced it would begin stocking items in a number of grocery categories from

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

retailer

Waitrose Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...

. In 2015, the firm received an R760 million investment from emerging market investor Actis. The firm's CEO, Brian Coppin, stated that the company was attracted to Actis' history of working with family-owned businesses.

Brands

The company also operates 24-hour convenience stores under the FreshStop brand at over 200

Caltex Caltex is a petroleum brand name of Chevron Corporation used in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, and Southern Africa. It is also the brand name of non-Chevron petroleum companies in some countries (such as New Zealand, and previously ...

gas stations across South Africa. It also sells liquor at Market Liquors stores next to select Food Lover's outlets and operates cafeteria-style restaurants at Food Lover's Eatery locations.

Partnerships

Food Lover's Market receives some of its products from South African company Cape Roasters and supplies its stores throug
FVC International
a South African import and export company. South African

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

chain Seattle Coffee Company has outlets at Food Lover's Market and FreshStop stores across the country. Food Lover's Market has a partnership with South African bank ABSA, whereby ABSA customers can earn cash back by using their debit and credit cards at Food Lover's stores.

References

{{reflist Food and drink companies based in Cape Town Retail companies of South Africa Retail companies established in 1993 South African companies established in 1993