"It has been a tough environment since the soccer world cup but we should see some improvement by quarter one next year‚" he said.
Solomon said consumers had been downtrading as they began to feel the pinch of rising costs but the company has also managed to garner the support of new customers from competitors with more expensive offerings.
The company currently has about 163 restaurants‚ he said‚ but hopes to speed up growth in the next year. "We do not trade in many areas‚ there is place to grow in parts of the North West province and KwaZulu-Natal as well as the North Western Cape‚" he said.
McDonald's SA still had a beady eye on expansion into Africa‚ he said. "We have to learn how to eat off our own plate first‚" he said‚ adding that SA was a priority. "We will not be the first to go into Africa but we will be bold‚ when we eventually do."
Businessman Cyril Ramaphosa's company‚ Shanduka‚ acquired the 20-year master franchise last year to run all McDonald's restaurants in SA‚ it has a combination of franchise and corporate-owned stores.
Yum! the owners of KFC in SA said they would be bringing their Pizza Hut franchise to the country "soon" and Burger King may also grace local shores in the short term‚ the US-chain said last year.
"Threats are always there‚ but it also says someone else sees opportunity here in this market‚" Solomon said.
Yum! is considered the world's largest fast-food restaurant company with about 38‚000 restaurants in more than 110 countries. The company's turnover in SA was about R8bn last year.
Local players Famous Brands earlier this year said it was on the lookout for acquisitions and would look into new market segments including "evening casual dining" within the next few months. Famous Brands plans to open about 250 new stores in the coming year‚ 48 of these stores would be outside SA. It reported group revenue and operating profit growth of 15%‚ to R2.16bn and R413m respectively.
One of the smaller players in the market‚ Taste Holdings said it would open about 50 Fish & Chip Co restaurants in the next six months as competition in the fast food market and particularly the lower end of the market intensifies.
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