Circle K to enter South Africa through master franchise agreement

Alimentation Couche-Tard and Millat Convenience are teaming up to bring Circle K to South Africa through a master license agreement.

Millat has been granted an exclusive license to develop franchised Circle K stores in South Africa and expects to open the first location in the Gauteng province in late October 2022.

Millat Group is a privately owned, multinational family business with a broad portfolio of assets within the tourism and hospitality sector. The company has worked extensively over the past year to lay the foundation for Circle K’s introduction to the South Africa market

“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,” said CEO Hamza Farooqui. “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 Canada and the U..S., Couche-Tard has about 1,900 franchise Circle K locations in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania.

“We are always exploring opportunities to bring Circle K to new customers with franchise partners who understand how to build brands in their markets,” said Pat Fitzpatrick, vice-president of global franchise for Circle K. “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.”

Couche-Tard operates in 24 countries and territories, with almost 14,100 stores, of which approximately 10,700 fuel.