Spur Corporation Enters Coffee Specialty Market With Acquisition Of 60% Of The Doppio Group
Spur Corporation Enters Coffee Specialty Market With Acquisition Of 60% Of The Doppio Group. Spur Corporation is to acquire a 60% stake in the Doppio Group, owners of speciality restaurant brands Doppio Zero, Piza e Vino and Modern Tailors with a portfolio of 37 franchised and company-owned restaurants as well as a bakery and central supply business.
The business is being acquired from founders Paul Christie and Miki Milovanovic who opened the first Doppio Zero in Greenside, Johannesburg, in 2002. In the financial year to February 2023, the Doppio Group generated total sales of over R600 million.
Group CEO Val Nichas said the acquisition will not only strengthen Spur Corporation’s position in the day-time speciality dining segment but also accelerate the group’s entry into the speciality coffee market. “Our strategy is to expand into categories, markets and channels where we are under-represented. Our speciality dining brands currently comprise 40 restaurants across The Hussar Grill, Nikos and Casa Bella, with dinner trade representing about 71% of turnover. The attraction of acquiring The Doppio Group is that it will nearly double our speciality portfolio and enable our group to substantially increase its share of the speciality dining day-time market,” said Nichas.
Doppio Zero has extensive expertise in the coffee speciality, offering a bakery café experience during the day and more sophisticated dining experience at night. Doppio, meaning ‘double’ in Italian, represents the double zero (00) grading of the finest milled flour used in pizzas, pasta and confectionery. Piza e Vino, a pizzeria-based restaurant with café-style dining, complements the group’s Italian offering provided by Panarottis and Casa Bella. The most recent addition to Doppio’s brand portfolio is the bespoke Modern Tailors restaurant inspired by Indian cuisine.
Doppio Group co-founder Paul Christie said: “We share the ethos of customer hospitality and understand the importance of creating great dining experiences. Our decision to partner with Spur Corporation is strategically aligned to our vision of expanding our bespoke brands to more regions in South Africa and across the continent.”
Nichas said the acquisition also presents opportunities for national expansion of the Doppio brands. “As the Doppio Group’s restaurants are mainly located in Gauteng, this creates an opportunity for existing Spur franchisees to invest and expand their brand portfolios, particularly with Doppio Zero which is the most established of the brands.”
