Vulcan Flame Grill — Executive Summary

Vulcan Flame Grill seeks R85 million (R45m equity + R30m senior debt + R10m founder) to build a multi-unit premium flame-grilled franchise operating platform in South Africa within the Steers ecosystem — scaling to 12 stores and R248 million of revenue by Year 5 at a 22% EBITDA margin, with a base-case equity IRR of 52%.

Section 1 · Business Plan

Executive Summary

Vulcan Flame Grill Holdings (Pty) Ltd is being established as a
professionally managed, institutional-grade restaurant operating
platform focused on the ownership, rollout and optimisation of premium
flame-grilled quick-service restaurants within the Steers franchise
ecosystem in South Africa.

South Africa’s quick-service restaurant (QSR) sector is among the
country’s most resilient consumer industries. Independent estimates
place the domestic fast-food market at roughly US$6.3 billion in 2024,
set to approach US$8.2 billion by 2033, while the broader consumer
foodservice market is estimated at over US$10 billion in 2025. QSR
formats account for close to half of foodservice value and the large
majority of outlets. Vulcan is designed to capture a disciplined,
scalable share of this market by aggregating multiple high-quality
Steers units under a single, centrally managed and data-driven platform
— rather than operating as a conventional single-site, owner-operated
franchise.

The Company seeks to raise R85 million to fund a
five-year programme that builds a portfolio of twelve
flame-grilled restaurants across Gauteng and selected national
nodes, supported by centralised procurement, finance, marketing,
training and analytics. On the sponsor’s base case the platform reaches
R248m of revenue and R55m of EBITDA (a 22.2% margin) by Year
5.

Headline financials at a glance

Year 5 Revenue

R248m

Year 5 EBITDA

R55m

Year 5 Net Profit*

R36m

Base Equity Multiple

7.9x

*Net profit is independently re-derived on a conservative basis
(full D&A, full interest, 27% tax). The full five-year
three-statement projections, debt-service-coverage schedule, sensitivity
analysis and return calculations are presented in Section 18.

Figure 1.

Figure 1. Revenue, EBITDA and margin trajectory under the sponsor base case (ZAR million).

The investment proposition in brief

Enduring brand equity. Steers is one of South
Africa’s most iconic QSR brands, with a national footprint of roughly
600–700 outlets and a distinctive flame-grilled positioning that
differentiates it from fried-chicken-led competitors.
Platform economics. Centralising procurement,
overheads and analytics across a cluster of units targets margin
expansion from the low-teens to the low-20s percent at the EBITDA line
as the portfolio matures.
Structural tailwinds. Urbanisation, a youthful
population, rapid delivery-platform adoption and drive-thru growth all
support sustained off-premise demand.
Conservative capital structure. At roughly 35%
senior debt to 65% equity, the platform is lightly levered; modelled
debt-service coverage remains above the 1.25× covenant floor even under
a severe stress scenario.
Multiple exit pathways. Trade sale to a
strategic operator, private-equity acquisition, multi-brand
consolidation or an eventual public listing.

An honest assessment of where the risk sits

This Plan deliberately separates what is robust from what is
aggressive. The capital structure and debt-service profile are
conservative and resilient. The genuine binding risk is execution
against the top line: the base case implies a mature average unit volume
of roughly R20 million per store, which sits above the typical Steers
benchmark of approximately R12–R15 million. The platform’s returns are
therefore primarily an execution and site-selection story rather than a
financing story.

ANALYST CALLOUT

Base-case modelled equity returns (an IRR above 50% at a 6.0×
EV/EBITDA exit) materially exceed the sponsor’s stated 28–35% target.
This counter-intuitive result is a direct consequence of the aggressive
average-unit-volume assumption embedded in the base case. Under our
independent conservative case — an 18% haircut to unit volumes and
150bps of margin compression — the modelled IRR still clears the upper
end of the sponsor’s target range. We therefore regard the 28–35% target
as conservative relative to the embedded operating assumptions ;
the real question for diligence is whether twelve units can be built and
matured to the assumed densities on schedule.

Confidential — this business plan is provided to prospective investors and lenders for evaluation purposes only and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written consent of Vulcan Flame Grill Holdings (Pty) Ltd.