SOUTH AFRICA – Kauai, the South African healthy food chain has announced that it is looking for a partnership with new franchises as part of its growth strategy to expand operations in South Africa.

The company said it had seen improvement for the past 22 years of trading with 25% year on year growth and 4% improvement on net profit percentage.

It boasts of over 150 stores offering a range of convenience and healthy foods including salads, warm bowls, protein smoothies, raw juices and shots, all formulated to meet customer preferences.

Franchise Executive Guy Le Ray-Cook explained that in its quest to expand its footprint, it is considering a ‘hands-on leader’ criteria with a focus on the changing needs of consumers.

According to him, since the company started with the introduction of smoothies into South Africa, it has been able to stay updated with the latest food trends.

“Ever since then we have watched trends especially in the USA and work on combining them with other health items in our own unique way to ensure that South Africans can enjoy them without necessarily needing to be a health nut but simply knowing it is good for them,” he said.

“John Berry our innovations executive was one of the founding partners of Kauai and still works on the innovations of our menu that adapts itself at least twice a year.”

The company is eying more growth in Gauteng where although they have many successful health club stores, they are closed off to the general public thus need more retail stores.

“We see many malls losing feet each month but our market share is growing faster than the mall is losing feet.

We have been at the forefront of making healthy food accessible to many South Africans for 22 years and now we see more doors opening as more and more people despite economic tough times, are not sacrificing their health as a consequence of the tough times,” he added.

Cognitive partnerships

Kauai has been redesigning its business with a partnership with UberEats an ‘order ahead’ app and loyalty and cashless payments adding a minimum of 5% additional overall sales in loyalty transactions.

The group has a partnership with 93 Virgin Active Health Clubs, with room to grow its footprint given that the gym has 142 clubs in South Africa.

In May 2015, Real Foods, the company behind Nü Health Food Café, has bought all 100% shares in the Kauai group.