Nando's is a South African multinational fast casual restaurant chain that specialises in Portuguese flame-grilled, peri-peri style chicken. The name is derived from a nickname for the male given name Fernando, in reference to one of the company's founders.
Founded in Johannesburg in 1987, Nando's operates over 1,200 outlets in 30 countries.[1] Their logo depicts the Rooster of Barcelos, one of Portugal's most common symbols.[2] The company was wholly owned by Dick Enthoven until his death in 2022, and is now owned by his family.
History
The restaurant was founded in 1987 in Rosettenville, Johannesburg by Portuguese-born Fernando Duarte and South African-born Robert Brozin.[3] Upon visiting a Portuguese Mozambican[4] takeaway named Chickenland and trying the chicken with peri peri, they bought the restaurant for about 80,000 rand (equivalent to about £25,000 at the time). They renamed the restaurant Nando's after Fernando's firstborn son.
By 1989, the restaurant had three outlets in Johannesburg and one in Portugal.[5][6] Capricorn Ventures International acquired the chain in 1992.[7] In that year, the first branch opened up in Ealing Common where once stood a branch of Midland Bank.
In 2010, Advertising Age magazine named Nando's one of the world's top 30 hottest marketing brands alongside Tata Nano, MTN and Natura.[8] During the same year, the success of Nando's in the U.K. led The Guardian to write that Nando's was a modern restaurant brand that had "changed the face of British fast food."[9] Nando's 1,000th store worldwide opened in 2012.[10]
As of July 2014, the Nando's restaurant group was owned by South African businessman Dick Enthoven and his family, through the Luxembourg-domiciled company Yellowwoods.[11] Enthoven's son Robby Enthoven, who took over running the restaurants in 1993, was responsible for expanding the Nando's chain in the United Kingdom.
In 2018, American-based recruitment website Indeed named Nando's as the UK's sixth best private sector employer[12] based on millions of employee ratings and reviews.[13]
Worldwide locations
Nando's has locations in many countries.[5]
South Africa
Duarte and his friend Brozin, the founders of the first Nando's, bought a restaurant previously called "Chickenland" and renamed it Nando's. They opened it in 1987.[6][14][15] By 2018, there were 340 Nando's restaurants throughout its home market of South Africa.[16]
Other African countries
Advertising
Australian refugee advertisement
In 2002, Nando's ran an advertising campaign in Australia based around a political controversy regarding the mandatory detention of refugees. The detainees had been waging a hunger strike campaign, even resorting to sewing their lips closed. Nando's adverts proclaimed that the strikers "decided to unsew their lips after hearing the news that with every Nando's quarter chicken combo, Nando's are giving away an extra quarter chicken free."
Melbourne's Sphere Advertising said that the ad was designed to spark controversy, saying that they knew that "there's a section of our audience that's going to be uncomfortable... but we want to evoke a response."[66]
Malema advertisement
During the South African national elections of 2009, Nando's made an advert lampooning African National Congress Youth League then president Julius Malema by using a puppet that resembled him. Malema's lawyers sued Nando's and the original advert was removed. However, an altered version was released, with the puppet's face pixelated and the voice altered. The puppet used in the advert was later sold at auction for 100,000 rand, which was donated to an educational charity.[67]
Corporate affairs
Both The Guardian newspaper (UK) and the American non-profit publication ICIJ received documents in July 2014 revealing the details of past and present offshore clients of wealth managers Kleinwort Benson, including the Nando's restaurant group. The Guardian published its belief that, through the use of businesses in Malta, Guernsey and the Netherlands, Enthoven legally reduces the group's UK corporation tax bill by "up to a third." According to the British newspaper, Enthoven's profits eventually accumulate in the Kleinwort Benson-managed "Taro III Trust" that is based in Jersey and contains at least £750 million.[72]
While no member of the Enthoven family agreed to speak with The Guardian, a company representative explained that UK tax laws are not applicable to Enthoven, as "he is not resident in the US or the UK." The spokesperson also stated that, in the UK, Nando's paid corporation tax of £12.6 million on a profit of £58.2 million for the year ending February 2013.[72] In its 2023 tax strategy, the company states that "Nando's policy is to maintain its tax affairs responsibly and transparently. Nando's doesn’t enter into transactions simply to secure tax advantages."[73]
See also
- Chicken restaurant
- List of fast-food chicken restaurants
- Oporto – Australian-based Portuguese themed chicken restaurant
- TASTE Holdings – management group in which Chickenland (Pty) Ltd has significant shareholding
External links
References
- GlobalData. South Africa’s Nando’s partners K Hospitality to expand in India Yahoo Finance, 2024-05-16, retrieved 2026-04-18^
- Is Nando's Portuguese? Portugalist, 5 September 2016, retrieved 9 June 2021^
- The History of Nando's www.rateyournandos.com, retrieved 2024-09-26