Companies

Artcaffe’ to open four outlets as competition heats up

Artcaffe1

An Artcaffe outlet at the Lavington Mall. PHOTO | JOHN FOX

Artcaffe’ Group plans to open four more outlets in Nairobi, fuelling competition with rival brands such as Java and KFC.

The new branches, to be opened in the next few weeks, will be situated in Kileleshwa, Freedom Height Mall in Lang’ata, ACK Garden on Bishop Road and at Hardy in Ngong.

They will bring to 11 the total number of outlets opened by the firm in the last 16 months.

In Kenya, Artcaffe’ competes with global brands including KFC and Subway, as well as Big Square—which has also been on an expansion spree fuelled by private equity investors.

Africa-focused private equity firm Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) acquired a majority stake in Artcaffe Group in 2018 at Sh3.5 billion.

ECP had earlier sold Java House to Abraaj, underlining private equity investor interest in East Africa.

Java Group was the biggest restaurant chain in the region with over 80 branches, followed by fast-food brand KFC, Art Caffe restaurant and Subway as at May 2018.