Food Lover's Market

Food Lover's Market
Company typePrivate
IndustryRetail
Founded1993 (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]
SubsidiariesSeattle Coffee Company
FreshStop
FVC International
Market Liquors
Diamond's Discount Liquor
Websitehttps://foodloversmarket.co.za
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]

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. ^ a b c "Food Lover`s Market". The Franchise Association of South Africa. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  2. ^ a b "Food Lover's Market". SA Franchise Brands. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  3. ^ a b c "R760m investment boost for Food Lover's Market". Fin24. 2015-12-05. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  4. ^ a b c d "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. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b 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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