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Burger special wasn't financially viable: Spur founder
27 Jun 2017
When Spur ended its popular Monday Buy One Get One Free burger special at the end of March this year, cash-strapped diners mourned the loss. But according to the restaurant chain's founder and executive chairman, Allen Ambor, Spur was in the grip of over-discounting and it was hurting the business.
Allen Ambor
“We had 2 for 1 burgers for five years. We had Kids Eat Free for a similar amount of time and we had 3 for 2 steaks on Thursdays. We were over-discounting for a long time and we had to stop.”
These specials were a contributing factor in Spur’s rising prices. “We were forced to put up certain prices, like on steaks and burgers, to support Monday’s losses. Those prices will be coming down in July,” Ambor said at last week’s Startup Grind event in Cape Town.
Aside from the impact of the specials, he assured the audience that in general Spur prices have not gone up more than they should have. “Prices have increased because costs have increased. We try to give customers value for money, but when electricity, water, petrol and labour costs go up as they do it’s difficult. Our prices haven’t gone up more than they should have. We’re not profiteers.
“When I first ran Golden Spur, I put up my prices after six weeks because we worked out that we needed to. Thereafter I didn’t put up prices for two and a half years because I didn’t have to. Inflation is a very different animal today.”
Salad Valley
Customers have displayed disappointment at the removal of the restaurant’s Salad Valley, but this too wasn’t financially feasible any longer, according to the founder.
“The Salad Valley ended up costing us much more than it was worth. It requires constant replenishing so we were throwing out produce all the time. We had it on a refrigerated counter with ice so we were looking after the product to the best of our ability and still, particularly in summer, it would spoil.
“We were throwing away thousands of rands every week and it became a poor proposition financially. I didn’t want it to go because I tend to want things as they were when we started, but times change.”
