Vusumuzi Dube
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
FAST food restaurant chain, Chicken Hut has opened its sixth outlet in the country at an estimated cost of between US$150 000 and US$250 000 as the business seeks to make a major comeback in the local market.
In 2010, the fast food chain operated four outlets before the figure went down to one in 2017.
Chicken Hut head of experience, Mr Thando Dube said his organisation was compelled to scale-down operations on account of the global economy which has been tough and Zimbabwe was not spared.
“We have had to make tough decisions of closing shops and letting off people. We hope to go back to those markets when things improve. We love to be positive and believe that we are in a country with great people as compared to other African countries. We hope the global economy is going to improve as we believe we can make a difference in Zimbabwe,” he said.
Following the coming into power of the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa in November 2017, the Government has vowed to rebuild the economy and adopted the “Zimbabwe is open for business” mantra with a view to lure investors locally and across the world through adopting favourable economic policies.
The Second Republic has also embarked on an engagement and re-engagement drive to improve relations with the international community after close to two decades of isolation from the global village.
Before the latest outlet situated at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare, the Portuguese restaurant chain had two branches in the capital and one each in Bulawayo, Kwekwe, and Gweru.
Under its expansion drive that began a few years ago, but had been hampered by the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, Chicken Hut intends to roll out more outlets in the country.
Mr Dube said Chicken Hut the recent opening of their latest offering in Harare, is out of their desire to service their clientele at one of Zimbabwe’s busiest airports.
He said: “The new outlet at the airport will create over 50 jobs in-store and across the whole value chain. This latest outlet, brings the number of our branches in the country to six, however, we have some Pop-up outlets and will be opening two virtual outlets in the golden triangle in Harare. Currently, we employ 70 people directly and contribute employment to over 200 people across the value chain,” he said.
As part of efforts to contributing to Zimbabwe’s employment landscape, Mr Dube said, Chicken Hut has started creating opportunities for self-employment by adopting innovative.
“As Zimbabweans we are known for our good work ethics, however there’s been an evolution in the job space. Employment is not easy to come by and technology is also changing the employment landscape.
“The fortunate part is that nothing stops businesses to innovate, we would like to always be innovative in our approach and thus we have launched delivery partnerships, where one does not work for us, but work with us,” he said.
Going forward into next year, Chicken Hut intends to continue with innovative ideas to grow the business as well as backward integration.
“We are also launching a chicken excellence programme, where we will partner with growers and give them access to land and infrastructure to do chickens. We will train them to be the best and also give them entrepreneurship training to enable them to scale their business,” said Mr Dube.
Online Reporter