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Ocean Taste the
Ocean Basket is one seafood restaurant where people can afford a simple, but tasty meal.
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Ocean Basket FEATURE
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onday 16 August was Ocean Basket’s 15th birthday. It was a real landmark and to celebrate “the special day” it decided to sell its signature dish, feesh and chips, at the same price it was in 1995 when Ocean Basket first opened its doors. “For only R10 customers could enjoy a generous portion of fish and chips,” says marketing manager Brendan Mc Ghee. “77,000 consumers made use of this remarkable, once-in-a-lifetime offer.” According to Mc Ghee, the celebration was a great success, full of “excitement”. “It was a fantastic way of thanking our customers for all their support,” he says. Television and newspaper ads were flighted one day before the promotion to drive up interest. Twitter and other social media sites played their part too, with news spreading like wildfire. Mc Ghee was expecting something great. And it happened. Every one of Ocean Basket’s 133 outlets was packed to full capacity all day. Not a single empty seat could be found and nothing was left unsold. “Ocean Basket has always been about giving back to customers. We have a philosophy of keeping customers happy and giving them a little more than they expect. It is a good way of ensuring that they come back to you. “I promise you, had we had another 77,000 pieces of fish to sell we would have sold it,” he says of the offer pitched as ‘a slice of birthday hake on us’. Although Ocean Basket has come a long way it has never forgotten its initial promise. “When we first opened our doors only a privileged minority could enjoy seafood,” says Mc Ghee. “We made seafood affordable and haven’t changed our pricing strategy since day one. The key to our success is simplicity and we don’t have an overly complicated
menu. Instead we focus on a great taste and outstanding prices.” Ocean Basket has always been, and remains, a seafood restaurant chain aimed at being affordable to customers whilst maintaining high levels of quality. “Above all, we stand for seafood quality. We stand for simple, quality seafood plus value for money and customers can enjoy delicious Mediterranean starters and main courses of superbly fresh calamari, kingklip, line fish, sole, and prawns, all served with fries, rice or salad. There are also platters and combinations like fish and calamari, prawns and calamari, or prawns and kingklip. On top of that many Ocean Baskets have a sushi menu and a fresh fish deli and customers can order to eat in or takeaway. We have the variety of the sea.” One thing’s for sure, Ocean Basket is a seafood restaurant where people can afford a simple but tasty meal.
For only R10 customers could enjoy a generous portion of fish and chips
Life and sole of the party Ocean Basket is still growing. In a normal year, around seven new outlets open their doors. The result is an expanding footprint. “We can be found across South Africa and have a presence in several other African countries, as well as the Middle East and Europe,” says Mc Ghee. The fact Ocean Basket continues to grow is remarkable, especially in the economic context of the last 18 months. However, the company saw what was happening early and developed a strategy that has not only seen it through, but has seen it expand. “We planned in terms of our key value items. We have been communicating to the market the value and entry level price points of great meals, not cheap and nasty meals. We have been doing this now for the last 18 months. It has paid fantastic dividends www.southafricamag.com
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Ocean Basket FEATURE
Suppliers of Quality Fish and Fish Products
Supapackers Fish Processors (PTY) Ltd Tel: 021 577 4777 Fax: 021 577 4999 Contact Persons : Luis Figueiredo 084 616 6600 luis@supapackers.co.za Mario Goncalves 084 611 1554 mario@supapackers.co.za
“The message has been consistent in terms of our offering value for money. We have invested more in communications and advertising over this period to remain at the front of minds and we haven’t compromised on the quality and service. Our customers have rewarded us because we have seen growth in real terms over the period. We have also seen an interesting phenomenon where the top end of the market have become more value driven and are shopping down. They ordinarily wouldn’t come to our stores but now they are,” says Mc Ghee. Although the volume of franchise enquiries has declined in recent times, the number of franchises opening hasn’t. This is because the quality of enquires has increased according to Mc Ghee. “Whereas in the past you would have two or three people looking to take a location on which only one of them would qualify financially, now you are finding that the guys that are 4
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interested are serious and are of the right profile in terms of who they are as individuals to operate a business like ours. So, we have definitely seen the quality increasing, and our rate of expansion has not declined in terms of number of units per annum. We have seen steady methodical growth which is good because overexpansion strains the business. We have achieved our planned growth, which is the most important thing.” Ocean Basket is currently looking at further growth in mainland Europe as well as other parts of the world. However, it is also keen to drive down set up costs to make it affordable to open outlets in smaller South African towns of 60-200,000 populations. “This is a strategy that we have pursued and got some fantastic results from it,” says Mc Ghee. “To give you an example, we recently opened a restaurant in Lephalale and it is doing phenomenally, paying fantastic dividends to the franchisee.”
Opening in Lephalale was a wise business move. The town is a major boom area, its face being changed forever by the R125 billion Medupi Power Station Project. Several major franchises have opened new stores the town, including Edgars, Tekkie Town and Legit. “Opportunities like this are exciting,” Mc Ghee says. Things are clearly going very well for Ocean Basket at the moment and more expansion is just around the corner. But no matter how big it grows, or how many outlets it opens, it will not forget it promise of ‘great tastes and outstanding prices’. “We will always commit to that promise,” says Manny Nichas, the CEO of Ocean Basket. According to Mc Ghee, in every Ocean Basket, no matter in the world it is, you will find the same formula for success - simplicity, value for money and quality seafood, served piping hot from the pan. END
taSte our tradition
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