Why Choppies Exited Key African Markets: Insights into Retail Scaling Challenges

The Chopdat family couldn’t have believed that their Wayside Supermarket (now known as Choppies) would, in 22 years, be challenging some of the biggest retail market brands across Southern Africa. More so that ground zero for one of the (for a time) most rapidly growing retail chain brands was Lobatse, a city that is the fourth largest by population in Botswana. 

What started from humble beginnings became a continental powerhouse with a presence across most of Southern and Eastern Africa. But things don’t always last. The much-talked-about disposal of Choppies Zimbabwe to Pintail Holdings for US$260,000 is just the tip of the iceberg.

Choppies has, over the past five years, withdrawn from South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The Group now solely focuses on Botswana, Zambia and Namibia. 

The question that we asked ourselves, is what happened? But more than that, what are the lessons to be learned about Choppies' lofty ambitions of being a US$1 billion revenue-generating continental enterprise that their CEO, Ramachandran Ottapathu, aspired to in 2017.