PetrolPlaza Podcast: Discussing the South African market with FreshStop
In the first episode of the PetrolPlaza Podcast we talked to Joe Boyle, Commercial Director at FreshStop, about the role of c-stores as community hubs, the continued growth of their network, the South African customer, and the hurdles that EVs will find in the country.
Joe Boyle has worked in the retail industry for more than 30 years and has been instrumental in developing food retail brands in South Africa during this time, which includes developing and growing the FreshStop retail brand over the last 10 years.
FreshStop is South Africa’s fastest growing 24-hour convenience store brand, having opened 336 stores countrywide. Their stores are all located at Caltex stations and are known for their wide variety of fresh food & beverage options.
South African customers pulling up at a FreshStop can typically find the full-service Seattle Coffee bar, popular in-house food brands Crispy Chicken and Grill to Go that serve hot crispy chicken, burgers, ribs and grilled chicken meals.
The pandemic slowed down their expansion process but Joy Boyle and FreshStop still managed to open 12 stores in 2021 and are expected to open another 6 before the end of the year.
“The areas where we lost a little bit were the refreashes. A lot of retailers which had existing stores took a huge knock in those first three or four months with fuel volumes. On the c-store side, we have done very well with increases compared to 2019 and 2020,” explains Boyle.
Many of the stores have experienced retrofits to set aside magazines and introduce crispy chicken restaurants. The big volumes are now going through fast-food products.
The South Africa customer is pushing for on-the-go options. They are looking for a top-up in groceries, instant gratification with carbonated soft drinks, energy drinks have expanded hugely, barista coffee continues strong. “The clientele is becoming more sophisticated,” says Boyle.
There still a long way to go for South Africa and electric vehicles with major hurdles in the way including the size of the country and stable electricity supply. Retailers like FreshStop have been adapting for years to the irregular supply of electricity by having generators on site, solar panels and batteries.
A recent piece of news that affects FreshStop is that all Caltex-branded service stations in South Africa and Botswana are to be rebranded Astron Energy in a huge move for the local fuelling industry. The company has a network of 850 stations in the two countries.
