Spur Steak Ranches


Spur Corporation is a steakhouse franchise restaurant chain originating from South Africa with a focus on family dining. The head office of Spur Corporation is situated in Century City, Cape Town. Although the founding and flagship brand is the Spur steakhouse restaurants, the company owns a number of other, predominantly South African, restaurant brands.

History and growth

Despite its South African origin, Spur uses Native American themes extensively, both in its marketing and decor. The restaurant brands itself as "the official restaurant of the South African family"; as such, most Spur restaurants include a children's play area.
In 1967 founder and executive chairman, Allen Ambor, opened the Golden Spur in Newlands, Cape Town in South Africa.
The Spur Group consists of Spur International, Spur Steak Ranches, Panarottis Pizza Pasta, John Dory’s Fish Grill Sushi, The Hussar Grill, RocoMamas, Spur Grill & Go and Casa Bella. It currently has 569 outlets worldwide, with restaurants in various parts of Africa, Mauritius, the Middle East and Australasia. In March 2018, Spur Corporation sold Captain Dorego.
BrandNumber of outlets in 2018
Spur Steak Ranches333
Panarottis Pizza Pasta84
John Dory's Fish & Grill49
Captain DoRegos*18
The Hussar Grill17
Rocomamas65
Casa Bella8
Nikos8

Operations

Spur Steak Ranches is a subsidiary of Spur Corporation, one of the largest restaurant companies in South Africa.
It has its headquarters in Century City, Cape Town, with regional offices in Johannesburg and Durban as well as an International Office in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, supporting the company’s international operations.
Spur Steak Ranches’ contribution to Spur Corporation’s restaurant turnover is .
Restaurants are owned by franchisees or directly by the company. As of 31 December 2018, Spur Steak Ranches had 323 stores located in 15 countries. The total restaurants in South Africa is 284 with 39 in other countries.
Africa and Mauritius
Australasia 
In 2020, the chain was forced to temporarily close all of restaurants amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

Products

Spur Steak Ranches’ core product offering is steaks, ribs and burgers. In addition to these, the brand also sells chicken, schnitzels, seafood, wraps and sandwiches, salads, desserts, breakfasts and a dedicated children’s menu.
Spur Steak Ranches also sells food to take away, delivering in some locations.

Procurement, manufacturing and distribution

Spur Steak Ranches operates a sauce manufacturing facility that supplies franchisees with the brand’s sauces. Its sauces and marinades are also retailed in major South African retailers.
Certain products, which are externally manufactured under licence, are sold directly to consumers in major South African retailers such as frozen ribs and burger patties.

Panarotti's Pizza Pasta

The company also owns the Panarotti’s pizza and pasta restaurant chain. This chain was started in 1990 and has 84 outlets. In addition, the Spur Group purchased a 60% shareholding in John Dory’s Fish and Grill in 2004. John Dory's is a KwaZulu-Natal-based franchise with 54 outlets.

Controversy

In March 2017, a racially charged incident occurred between two customers in a South African Spur Steak Ranch restaurant when a black African family got into an expletive-filled argument with a white Afrikaner family, after the black child reportedly hit the white child. The restaurant banned the white family, but not the black family. White Afrikaners criticized and ultimately boycotted the restaurant, which was staffed by black Africans, for siding with the black family, as well as for not doing more to break up the fight—all of which was felt to reflect anti-white racism as well as a more general displacement of Afrikaners by black people. The restaurant chain also received criticism for its slow official response, which was judged inadequate.