Regardless of this negative sentiment they believed in their idea and started the business with their army savings, which was a sum total of approximately R6 000.
There is a saying in the Zulu language that goes Ubudoda abukhulelwa which means that one does not necessarily have to be a grown man to start doing manly things. How Debonairs Pizza was started is a practical example of this saying – it just shows that where there is a will there is a way.
According to the case study that was published in the book titled Marketing Success Stories, by Michael Cant, Ricardo Machado et.al, here is how this pizza business started:
Debonairs Pizza, founded in September 1991, was the brainchild of university students Craig Mackenzie and Andrew Harvey. Having seen the success of the pizza delivery industry in the USA, Mackenzie realised that this market in South Africa was, at that time, under-developed. On exploring the opportunities and discussing their proposed pizza delivery service, they were met with scepticism back home.
Regardless of this negative sentiment they believed in their idea and started the business with their army savings, which was a sum total of approximately R6 000.
It is clear that once McKenzie and Harvey had decided to bring about the Debonairs concept, they fixed their minds on their goal and did not allow any form of skepticism or negative sentiment to deter them. They were ready to try out their idea, and make it work. I like the way the company name came about:
One of their buddies came up with the name Debonair by paging through the Oxford dictionary.
This reminds me of the movie Mrs Doubtfire, where a guy whose wife has filed for divorce and in trying to keep in touch with his children, he pretends to be an old lady looking for a job as a housekeeper. When asked for "her" name, he quickly flips through a newspaper and comes up with a name. This is creativity at its best! (Sadly, this guy passed away due to suicide in 2014). This is almost similar to how Chicken Licken got its name – through a suggestion from a junior staff member to the company founder. What is very interesting is that Mckenzie and Harvey were not even studying business studies at university when they started the business:
The business was started in Pietermaritzburg where the two were studying as full-time students. Mackenzie was a Bsc Agric student whilst Harvey was studying law. Mackenzie's brother owned a Spar supermarket in town.
This shows that people who are open to opportunities and are willing to use them can be greatly rewarded. It is not always about the background, but the willingness to take a chance on the opportunities that present themselves. The limited space at the Spar bakery also did not deter the two would-be entrepreneurs from pursuing their venture:
The Spar housed a typical supermarket bakery, which was positioned at the back of the outlet...Space was limited within the bakery and the only storage facilities available were the space on top of the oven and a small domestic fridge.
It is interesting that when Debonairs Pizza started, the entrepreneurs were introducing new things that most people were not used to at that time, for instance free delivery service by people with a unique dress code which was white shirts and bowties:
The first night of trading resulted in a total of eight pizzas ordered and delivered to suitably impressed friends around town. The next night a small pamphlet drop and more obliging friends resulted in a considerable increase in sales. From that day on, Debonairs Pizza's deliveries grew exponentially.
The rest, as they say, is history. Debonairs Pizza grew and grew and in 1996 it was acquired by the Steers Group (now Famous Brands). Currently, Debonairs is the largest pizza franchise in Africa, and it celebrated its 21st birthday in 2012 by opening its 400th restaurant. As at 2018 they had 546 outlets (2017: 511). It just shows that there are many people who love Debonairs Pizza products.
YOU ARE READING
From Small Beginnings To Big Brands
Non-FictionThe stories of the businesses that I am profiling, provide more detail about the founders of these companies, as to how they went about establishing the companies in question, from the beginning until they became what they are today. Some of these p...
