Vivo Energy, the Shell and Engen service station operator, has formed a joint venture with foodservice operator Kuku Foods to roll out KFC fast food outlets across East Africa. Kuku Foods is the franchise holder for Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda.
The 50:50 joint venture will operate KFC restaurants in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda but not in Tanzania where Kuku Foods Tanzania has 5 KFC outlets. Kuku Foods has 22 KFC outlets in Kenya, 8 in Uganda and plans to open its first KFC in Rwanda later in 2019.
The aim of the joint venture is to increase the number of KFC outlets across these three East African countries by putting KFC outlets on Engen and Shell forecourts. KFC outlets are already present on Vivo Energy owned forecourts in Côte d’Ivoire and Botswana. Vivo Energy also partners with Pizza Hut, whose owner Yum! Brands also owns the KFC brand. In Uganda, for example, Pizza Hut has partnered with Vivo Energy since 2016.
For years, KFC outlets have been a feature on forecourts in South Africa – especially in smaller towns and busy routes between towns. So too, Pizza Hut rival Debonairs Pizza and burger franchise Steers (both owned by Famous Brands) and the Wimpy burger franchise all have a strong forecourt presence in the country.
In March 2019 Vivo Energy acquired Engen’s service stations in nine countries (and potentially ten if it acquires Engen’s assets in DRC). Vivo Energy now has over 2,000 service stations, across 23 African markets. The eight new markets acquired for Vivo Energy are Gabon, Malawi, Mozambique, Reunion, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Engen’s Kenya operations (where Vivo Energy already operated) is the ninth country included in the transaction.
Vivo Energy is keen to expand its non-fuel offer – a key growth area in retail in sub Saharan Africa. In March 2019 the company signed a partnership in Uganda with leading East African pharmacy chain GoodLife to roll out pharmacies on service station forecourts. Goodlife Pharmacy already has outlets on Vivo Energy forecourts in Nairobi – on the Thika Rd, on the Lang’ata Rd, on Ngong Rd in Karen, at Athi River, and in Hurlingham.
