Innscor pours $1,5m into southern region expansion

Innscor pours $1,5m into southern region expansion
Innscor fast food outlets in Bulawayo
Published: 29 July 2014
INNSCOR'S fast foods division will in the next 12 months spend more than $1,5 million on expanding its operations in the southern region, a development expected to boost employment levels.

The division, which owns outlets such as Chicken Inn, Pizza Inn, Fish Inn, Creamy Inn, Bakers Inn and Nandos among others, presently employs more than 3,000 people in the country.

The division's southern region managing director, Warren Meares, told Business Chronicle last week that they were looking forward to opening fast foods outlets  in Gwanda, Plumtree, Hwange and Chiredzi.

"We are continuing to invest in Bulawayo and the region. I think the next year will see the most investment that Innscor will bring. We've just opened the Steers along 8th Avenue in Bulawayo and we are opening a complex in Gwanda in the next few months.

"We are looking at investing in Plumtree and Hwange within this next year," he said.

"We have in excess of $1,5 million for these new outlets."

Meares said they would continue employing and the expansion of their operations would see between 80 and 100 more jobs being created.

The firm, which recently expanded its operations to Mvuma, employs more than 1,000 people in the southern region.

While a number of firms in Bulawayo have in the past few years closed down or scaled-down operations due to massive de-industrialisation in the city, Innscor has survived as a result of different strategies it has adopted.

"Basically the main thing that one has to look at is your overheads and innovations that keep your overheads down.  As Innscor we had to look at new systems and new equipment that bring down costs and that's what we're doing now.

"We are looking at ways to reduce head office staff because head office is what normally kills the business. Keep your head office small and your operation will succeed," said Meares.

He said Innscor had embarked on a restructuring exercise countrywide that would see the company centralising its operations and going online to reduce costs.

"All Innscor is doing is restructuring countrywide . . . we are becoming computerised in all our accounts departments and data collection from all our shops.

"We have got over 200 shops countrywide and where we have got computers we have got individual statisticians and with the coming of Internet access everything can be seen online.

"So, all we are doing is looking at a very limited number of jobs for all these fast foods countrywide. For example in Bulawayo we are looking at no more than may be 15 people at head office level. In all our 200 shops there is no one that's being retrenched," he said.

Meares said the impending retrenchment exercise was voluntary.

"We are looking at people that have ideas of where they want to go and work elsewhere or want to start their own business and they can take an opportunity to get a package and start their own business or whatever they want to do.

"The most critical thing is that the exercise is voluntary; we are not forcing anyone to resign," he said.
- chronicle
Tags: Innscor,

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