Recognized for his entrepreneurial spirit and admired for his servant leadership, founder and owner of a fast-growing food franchise, Devon Scoulelis, is making significant strides in the South African franchise industry. His franchise venture called Chicken Xpress is fast becoming one out of the many popular food franchises that has become South Africa’s most talked about!

Born and raised in Durban, in a small but close family, as a child Devon watched his parents and brother work hard in their respective worlds, to reach levels of success in their own respective ways. This stirred up an entrepreneurial spirit in him that led him on a quest to achieve success through entrepreneurship.

“My father had always been entrepreneurial and grown small businesses as I was growing up, while my mother had a steady job throughout my childhood; both with an incredible work ethic.

I saw the vast differences in flexibility and effort, and realized from a very young age that I certainly wanted to follow the path of having the flexibility of owning my own business, but had also been prepared for the hard work, late nights and the dedication it required through watching my father,” explains Devon.

Since starting Chicken Xpress 8 years ago, out of a need to provide a fresh spin to the fried chicken market in South Africa, his franchise has since expanded significantly and currently has 33 stores in the ground and also trades out of Botswana and Uganda.

"Everyone understands South Africa’s love for fried chicken, and I set out to make a product that was less oily and full of our “CX Flava” for the customer on the ground; as well as a brand that was accessible to the South African entrepreneur looking to grow their own franchise store and own their own business through a structured and supportive franchise format,” he adds.

Devon’s love for entrepreneurship is no different from his passion for social development. He has since embarked on a mission to create a fund in which under-resourced entrepreneurs in South Africa will be able to receive direct access to funding upon completing an entrepreneurial course through one of their partners, Orenda Org, which entails receiving the basic tools needed when starting a business.

“My mission is to grow a brand that could help others reach their goals and dreams and this led to Chicken Xpress where I focused on becoming the peoples champion in each new community it entered into.

The more I evolve through my business, I understand the need for varying aspects and more of a holistic approach to business. I use to think that only grit and hard work was required.

But as I have grown through the business I have realised that those 4 Orenda G’s are highly important, and our team looks for this and educates entrepreneurs on it consistently:

I find inspiration in everything and am always trying to see how I can link lessons from other people’s journeys to the path of my personal and business journey. Personally, I am inspired everyday by my fiancé as I watch her navigate her amazing journey and she still always finds time to work with me while guiding and assisting me through mine,” he adds.

Devon is optimistic about the future of Chicken Xpress and hopes that it will create opportunities for South African entrepreneurs looking to enter the franchise market. He aims to expand significantly across South Africa and across borders.

“I see the brand continuing its current growth path with approximately 300 - 400 stores across the country. Further to this, we aim to expand across the African continent as well as into India potentially as the brand seeks markets that it can reach scalable growth.

I look forward to growing South Africa’s emerging entrepreneurs that want to enter into their own business but also do so through a structured franchise format. As we grow the Social Franchise Initiative, we aim to empower hundreds of franchisee entrepreneurs and thousands of their staff one day into their own Chicken Xpress stores,” he concludes with a smile.

VITAL STATS

 

Featured entrepreneur/s: Devon Scoulelis

 

Age: 33

 

Company name: Chicken Xpress

 

Year founded: 2011

 

Turn over: System wide turnover of R95million across the brand

 

Start - up Funding: Private funding