SA’s KFC entrepreneur Burt Gunning: How to build a business from zero to 41 stores

Chicken and chips meals are a South African favourite, so it's little wonder that KFC is a massive presence on the tip of Africa. But there's more to running a successful KFC business than demand. One of South Africa's successful entrepreneurs, Burt Gunning, tells BizNews founder Alec Hogg how he built his business of KFC outlets to 41 stores, with no money of his own at the early phase of his journey. Gunning, a chartered accountant who moved out of the accounting business to develop his fast food empire, snapped up KFC stores when international investors exited South Africa in the mid-1980s. Since then, his family business has bought up outlets as he has seen the opportunities. Hogg asks Gunning to share the secrets of his success – and these include selecting the right store locations, sticking to the KFC principles and procedures, continually developing a computer programme to assist with ensuring speedy service in stores and ongoing staff training. – Jackie Cameron

Quite a show to start our life here at WeWork in our brand-new studio and we're closing it off with a highlight. Burt Gunning is the proprietor/owner of 41 KFC's. It's good to have you in the studio. You've had lots of awards, which we'll talk about in a moment but KFC (according to Wikipedia anyway) is by far the biggest  fast-food operation in South Africa. I couldn't get the exact number, but the latest figure I saw was 960 outlets.

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