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Europa is the chameleon of food franchises, serving good food all day to the ravenous and the peckish alike. Now the company’s new brand, Europa Express, has the lunchtime desk-diner in its sights.

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Europa, part of the Antimo Foods group, is one of the premier food retail organisations in South Africa. The original Europa Delicatessen

was opened in Orange Grove, Johannesburg, in 1986. It soon became a franchise operation, known as Europa Food Emporium, opening delicatessen-cafés around the country and later moved into the restaurant business. Most recently, the company has started a new venture, Europa Express, which provides quality take-away food to people on the go.

In the 10 years after the founding of the fi rst delicatessen it became apparent that in order for the business to succeed it needed

to change. “In most of the locations where we were trading we found that, in order to become viable, we needed to be able to trade at night,” says Marketing Director Gerry Thomas. It was this that led the business to establish the fi rst Europa restaurant in 1997. “We had been perceived as a daytime coffee shop

operation – not somewhere you would go of an evening. So we altered the menu and the aesthetics of the premises to accommodate night trade.”

Accommodate being the key word – Europa didn’t abandon its daytime crowd, it supplemented it with the evening trade.

The restaurants serve a range of European-infl uenced breakfasts and remain open throughout the day for customers looking for a light lunch or full dinner. The concept has been such a success that there are 25 Europa outlets throughout Southern Africa and counting.

In 2006, having experienced such success with its restaurant business, the company decided to launch a new brand – Europa Express. These outlets are, as Thomas describes it ‘convenience in corporate environments’ – that is to say they target captive markets in business districts. “Europa

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The Europa name means fresh food made to high

standards all

Express stores provide quick, on the go food to people who don’t have time for a sit-down meal,” he explains. All items are sold in take-away packaging, speeding up the sales process for cashier and customer but, despite this emphasis on rapidity, quality is still the number one priority. “The Europa name means fresh food made to high standards, which applies as much to Europa Express as it does to the rest of Europa.” This venture, which has seen a new store open every year since its introduction, has given the organisation a greater versatility in a competitive market. Europa Express is a different approach for the enterprise and it’s a different type of customer who comes in. While Europa bistros aim to attract passing trade and act as a destination, Europa Express shops are deliberately situated to attract workers who are short on time but still want good food.

The whole of the Europa business works on a franchise basis, with strict criteria surrounding the franchisee selection process. The owners of the shop or restaurant need to understand the Europa brand and philosophy

and to do that, they need experience. “We look for people who know the food and hospitality business and who are going to be hands-on operators,” says Thomas. “It is also essential that they have the necessary funding or fi nancial backing to open the franchise.”

In order to ensure that customers experience a uniformly high standard of service at all of its outlets, Europa ensures that all its staff are well trained. “All our training is done on the job, with an emphasis on practical skills,” Thomas explains. “Training obviously varies by position – the training a manager receives will not be the same as someone who is in a customer facing role. Similarly those working in the kitchen get their own training.”

Another factor in ensuring that the Europa experience is the same everywhere is strong supply chain management. The company divides the items that franchisees will need to purchase into three categories – Europa branded, generic brand and unbranded. “The fi rst category is probably the most stringent: These are branded items that the franchise is obliged to carry and are only available from

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OMNI CATERINGOver the last 10 years Omni Catering Equipment Manufacturer’s and Europa Food Emporium have developed a strong relationship and worked closely to build the food preparation, cooking area and front of house to Europa’s exacting standards. This time has enabled Omni to understand and appreciate the core business needs of Europa.

This relationship has developed to such a level that the two companies have teamed together on Europa’s latest coffee venture to specification build a coffee shop within the tightest space limitations without foregoing the quality of the Europa offering.

Designed and built completely within Omni’s factory we have been able to identify the key elements required within Europa’s new franchise and deliver a solution that will enable each shop to fulfill it’s full profit potential.

We look forward to another 100 years of growth.

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suppliers that we have nominated,” Thomas says. “The second are other well known brands that you would expect to fi nd in any food outlet. The shop or restaurant is obliged to sell these products, but is able to source them from whichever supplier they believe to be the best. ‘Unbranded’ means items that we can specify are used by the franchise but have no ‘label’ to them – this would mainly cover fresh produce.”

By managing its supply chain in this way, the organisation is able to maximise its own brand recognition across all outlets.

It also ensures that no matter where a consumer or orders his or her food, it will always be made with the same ingredients to the same recipe.

As all Europa and Europa Express outlets serve European-themed food, it will come as little surprise to fi nd out that much of the produce used in the recipes comes from Italy. While this doesn’t present a particular opportunity for ethical development, there is

one area that does – coffee. “We are in the process of developing our coffee blend and moving into a position where all the coffee we sell will be fair trade. That is our biggest initiative at the moment. However we also work on a site specifi c basis with landlords – if they have a specifi c requirement regarding recycling or sourcing, we can work with them to accommodate that.”

In terms of the future, Thomas believes that the world is Europa’s oyster, particularly when it comes to Europa Express. “Growth is, naturally, the main objective. We have the strength of the Europa brand behind us, even though it’s a different entity entirely, but that helps us get into different environments where Europa would not normally compete. We want to capitalise on that and turn Europa Express into a sought after brand too for prospective franchisees and landlords. Once we have established that, the growth should be organic from there.” END

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