American convenience store Circle K expands to South Africa
Alimentation Couche-Tard (Couche-Tard) a global player in convenience and mobility, and Millat Convenience (Millat), a subsidiary of the Millat Group, announced a Master License Agreement that will bring Circle K to South Africa.
Millat, which has been granted an exclusive license to develop franchised Circle K stores in South Africa, expects to open the first location in the Gauteng province in late October 2022. Millat Group is a privately owned, multinational family business that over the years has built up a broad portfolio of assets within the tourism and hospitality sector.
Hamza Farooqui, CEO, Millat Group, ''Bringing Circle K to South Africa aligns with our concept of introducing customer-centric brands, experiences, and compelling food service offerings. This further speaks to our strategy to play within the leisure, hospitality, food service and convenience segments. As a brand, Circle K is an acknowledged leader in the convenience retail sector, and this deal will allow for disruption in this space as we are a company with extensive expertise in every facet of convenience and retail.''
Outside the U.S. and Canada, Couche-Tard has approximately 1,900 franchise Circle K locationsin Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania.
Pat Fitzpatrick, Vice President of Global Franchise, Circle K: ''We are always exploring opportunities to bring Circle K to new customers with franchise partners who understand how to build brands in their markets. Millat Group understands the South African consumer, has a strong track record of building retail, hospitality and food service brands in that country and has exciting plans for the Circle K brand. We are very pleased to be working with them to bring to life our mission to make our customers’ lives a little easier every day.''
www.circlek.com
www.convenience.org
