Food Lover's Market

Last updated
Food Lover's Market
Company type Private
Industry Retail
Founded1993;32 years ago (1993) [1]
FounderBrian Coppin
Mike Coppin [2]
Headquarters
Cape Town
,
South Africa
Number of locations
320 (120 grocery stores and 200 convenience stores) [3]
Area served
 Southern Africa
Key people
Brian Coppin (CEO) [2]
Subsidiaries Seattle Coffee Company
FreshStop
FVC International
Market Liquors
Diamond's Discount Liquor
Website https://foodloversmarket.co.za
Food Lover's Eatery in Foreshore, Cape Town Food Lover's Eatery on Heerengracht Street in Cape Town.jpg
Food Lover's Eatery in Foreshore, Cape Town

Food Lover's Market (often referred to as Food Lover's) is a South African supermarket chain that operates franchised grocery stores and convenience stores in Southern Africa. [4] The company is a member of the Franchise Association of South Africa. [1]

Contents

Headquartered in Cape Town, Food Lover's is South Africa's largest privately owned retailer. [5] As of 2022, the company had over 300 stores in South Africa, 2 in Botswana, 3 in Zimbabwe, and 3 in Namibia. [6]

Food Lover's owns one of South Africa's largest café chains, Seattle Coffee Company, as well as major gas station convenience store brand FreshStop, which operates at Astron Energy forecourts. [7] [8]

History

The company was established in 1993 as a single Fruit & Veg City store in Access Park, a factory outlet complex in the Kenilworth suburb of Cape Town. [1] The initial store was converted from an existing business, The Carrot King, into a Fruit & Veg City store. [9]

Food Lover's Market was founded by brothers Brian and Mike Coppin, whose father had been the Director of OK Bazaars, [9] a retail chain that was acquired by the Shoprite Group in 1997. [10] When it opened, the company sourced its products directly from farmers and municipal markets and priced them aggressively to grow in the market whilst competing with existing large retail chains. [9]

In 1995, the brothers were approached by someone wanting to operate a store in Port Elizabeth, and the first franchise store opened. Franchises in East London, Durban, Bloemfontein, and Pretoria followed. [9] The company opened its first store in Johannesburg in 1999. [9]

In 2012, Food Lover's Market expanded its offering to include non-food items and announced that it would be converting all Fruit & Veg City outlets to its Food Lover's Market brand. [11] In 2014, the company announced it would begin stocking items in a number of grocery categories from British retailer Waitrose. [11]

In 2015, the company received an R760 million investment from emerging market investor Actis. [3] The firm's CEO, Brian Coppin, stated that the company was attracted to Actis' history of working with family-owned businesses. [3]

In 2025 research, published by a South African media outlet, Food Lover's Market was found to have the cheapest basket of goods amongst major South African supermarket chains, by a significant margin. [12]

Brands

The company also operates 24-hour convenience stores under the FreshStop brand at over 200 Caltex gas stations across South Africa. [4] It also sells liquor at Market Liquor stores next to select Food Lover's outlets [4] and operates cafeteria-style restaurants at Food Lover's Eatery locations. [13]

Partnerships

Food Lover's Market receives some of its products from South African company Cape Roasters and supplies its stores through FVC International, a South African import and export company. [4]

South African coffee chain Seattle Coffee Company has outlets at Food Lover's Market and FreshStop stores across the country. [14]

Food Lover's Market has a partnership with South African bank ABSA, whereby ABSA customers can earn cash back by using their debit and credit cards at Food Lover's stores. [15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Food Lover`s Market". The Franchise Association of South Africa. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  2. 1 2 "Food Lover's Market". SA Franchise Brands. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  3. 1 2 3 "R760m investment boost for Food Lover's Market". Fin24. 2015-12-05. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Out Story". Food Lover's Market. Archived from the original on 2019-03-28. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  5. ↑ Keroshan Govender (24 December 2025). "Food Lover's Market opens groundbreaking Food Lover's Village in Cornubia". Rising Sun. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  6. ↑ "Food Lover's Market: Find a Store Near you!". Food Lover's Market. Retrieved 2022-09-11.
  7. ↑ "From humble beginnings to South Africa's largest privately owned retailer - Food Lover's Market celebrates 30 years". news24. 1 March 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2025.
  8. ↑ "FreshStop - Homepage". FreshStop. Retrieved 9 August 2025.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Pitman, J (2009-11-10). "Fruit & Veg City: Michael And Brian Coppin". Entrepreneur Magazine. Archived from the original on 2017-11-19. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  10. ↑ "Our Story". The Shoprite Group. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  11. 1 2 Magwaza, N (2014-02-27). "Fruit & Veg City brings in Waitrose foods". IOL. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  12. ↑ Malcolm Libera (24 May 2025). "One South African food store is much cheaper than Pick n Pay and Checkers". BusinessTech. Retrieved 25 May 2025.
  13. ↑ Roxy. "The Newest Food Lover's Eatery in Braamfontein". Food Lover's Market. Archived from the original on 2019-08-12. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  14. ↑ "Who we are". Seattle Coffee Company. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  15. ↑ "Food Lover's Market". ABSA. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
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