Panarottis, the Italian restaurant chain owned by Spur Corporation, grew restaurant sales by 17.4% to R628.43 million in the six months to 31 December 2025 and opened 11 restaurants over the period, six of them in South Africa. Daily Investor reported that the additions took the Panarottis network to 150 restaurants. The parent group has since said it plans to open 50 new restaurants in South Africa in its next financial year.
Panarottis in Spur’s half-year results
Spur Corporation also owns Spur Steak Ranches, John Dory’s, RocoMamas and Doppio Zero. In the half-year to December 2025, group revenue rose 8.5% to R2.2 billion and profit before tax climbed 13% to R245 million, according to the Sunday Times. Panarottis was the standout performer among the group’s brands in that period.
The company opened 29 restaurants in South Africa in those six months and closed eight. Chief executive Val Nichas said the new restaurants “created an estimated 660 new jobs and 67 new franchised partnerships.” She also acknowledged that weak economic conditions, more competition and supply chain disruption linked to foot-and-mouth disease had put pressure on trading, while saying the group remained “optimistic about the group’s medium-term prospects despite the volatile trading conditions.”
At that stage the group planned 56 openings in the 2026 financial year, 42 in South Africa and 14 abroad, and operated 640 restaurants locally and 113 internationally.
The company behind the brand
Wikipedia’s entry on the group records that Spur Corporation was established on 24 October 1967 by Allen Ambor, who opened the original Golden Spur restaurant. It listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1986 and is based in Cape Town. Panarottis, a pizza and pasta chain, was founded in December 1990 as the group’s second franchise brand.
As at December 2025 the group had 747 restaurants in 14 countries spread across 10 brands. Spur Steak Ranches was the largest with 355, followed by Panarottis with 150, RocoMamas with 117, John Dory’s with 45, Doppio Zero with 35 and The Hussar Grill with 28. Spur acquired a 60% stake in the Doppio Group in 2023, which brought it into daytime speciality dining and the coffee market.
A year earlier: 139 Panarottis restaurants
The scale of the expansion is clearer against the group’s June 2025 figures. SAPeople reported that Panarottis had 139 restaurants at that point, up 11 on the previous year, while Spur itself had 347. The group as a whole had 724 outlets across 14 countries, up from 701.
Full-year results and the next round of openings
Spur’s results for the year to June 2026, reported by Bizcommunity, showed franchise restaurant sales up 6.9% to R12.3 billion and total revenue up 8.5% to R4.2 billion. Profit before income tax, excluding a R129.5 million provision for the GPS litigation, rose 12.8% to R453 million. Adjusted headline earnings per share increased 8.9% to 370 cents.
The group opened 52 outlets in the year, 42 in South Africa and 10 internationally, and closed 15 South African stores, leaving 639 locally and 112 abroad, or 751 restaurants in 14 countries. Panarottis grew local sales by 16.3% over the year. Franchisees invested more than R200 million in new restaurants and renovations, and the group says it created more than 2 000 restaurant jobs.
For the coming year Spur plans 66 openings: 50 in South Africa and 16 internationally. TimesLIVE reported that the group is also piloting a compact format called Doppio Roam, a grab-and-go outlet that can operate from as little as 50 square metres. The first opened in Centurion in July 2026, and Nichas said the aim was to develop formats “that attract a younger investor,” one who might have only R1.3 million or R1.8 million to put in, rather than the larger sum a traditional restaurant needs.
Restaurant chains that grow through franchising depend on local operators putting up their own capital, and the Doppio Roam price point of about R1.3 million shows how the group is trying to widen that pool. Readers following listed consumer companies can find more in our retail and consumer coverage, and results from other listed groups sit in markets and finance. Small firms that supply restaurants or plan to franchise can read our SME and entrepreneurship section.
