Johannesburg, 9 December 2025: Famous Brands, Africa’s leading branded food services franchisor, has opened its first Steers and Debonairs Pizza combo restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
This opening follows the conclusion of master licence agreements with Mesra Retail & Café Sdn Bhd (MESRA), a wholly owned subsidiary of PETRONAS Dagangan Berhad (PDB). The agreements grant MESRA exclusive rights to develop Steers and Debonairs Pizza restaurants across Malaysia. Steers is known for its flame-grilled burgers and chicken dishes, while Debonairs Pizza’s popularity stems from its innovative pizza combinations.
“We have entered into a long-term partnership to develop a nationwide network of Steers and Debonairs Pizza restaurants, reflecting our ambition to grow these strong brands across different markets. MESRA is an excellent local partner thanks to its well-established presence, deep local knowledge and track record of serving local customer needs,” comments Darren Hele, CEO of Famous Brands.
Famous Brands will assist MESRA in rolling out the two brands to ensure operational efficiencies, consistency, product differentiation, the clever adoption of consumer-facing technology and authentic, localised customer experiences. MESRA, with support from Famous Brands, will develop a local supply chain to provide ingredients and products for use in Steers and Debonairs Pizza restaurants.
“This marks a defining moment for MESRA as we expand our non-fuel portfolio and enter the food and beverage market for the first time. With Debonairs Pizza and Steers, we are bringing Malaysians greater choice, exciting flavours and accessible global favourites with a dining experience tailored to local tastes,” says Ian Cruddas, CEO of MESRA.
“While Malaysia’s Quick Service Restaurant sector is competitive, it has significant growth potential thanks to its entrenched culture of eating out and upper-middle-income demographic,” adds Hele.
Steers and Debonairs Pizza, while originally well-loved South African brands, have enjoyed success in several African markets through master licensing and franchising. For Famous Brands, these expansion methods align with its core competence and leverage the expertise of local partners through long-term and mutually beneficial relationships. “Steers and Debonairs Pizza operate in popular but competitive categories. We offer consumers value, invest in consumer-facing technologies and continually evolve our menus while retaining consumer favourites. We are looking forward to working with MESRA to introduce these trusted brands to Malaysian consumers,” concludes Hele.
About Famous Brands
Famous Brands owns iconic, world-class brands supported by a vertically integrated business and operations on three continents. Famous Brands is a vertically integrated company with 16 restaurant brands and a network of over 3 000 restaurants. We operate franchised, master licence and Company-owned restaurants.
Our business model comprises four core pillars: Brands, Manufacturing, Logistics and Retail. The Brands portfolio is segmented into Leading (mainstream) Brands and Signature (niche) Brands. Leading Brands are further categorised as Quick Service and Casual Dining.
The Group’s Supply Chain refers to our Manufacturing, Logistics and Retail operations, which offers our franchise partners efficient supply, price certainty, product innovation and margin management.
About Steers
Steers is one of the most successful Quick Service Restaurant brands in South Africa, with a notable presence in a highly competitive market. The brand is known for its legendary 100% ground beef patties, hand-cut potato chips, fresh ingredients and unbeatable favours. To cater to a variety of consumer needs, Steers also offers breakfast options, BBQ ribs, flame-grilled beef and chicken meals, chicken burgers and vegan-friendly options.
Steers’ and Famous Brands’ founder, George Halamandres, was inspired to develop Steers in the early 1960s while he was on holiday in the United States, where he encountered innovative food industry concepts. By the end Famous_Brands_MERSA_Press Announcement_0912202509122025Famous_Brands_MERSA_Press Announcement_09122025//2 of 2 of the 1990s, Steers started expanding beyond South Africa. Today, Steers has 744 restaurants across 14 markets.
About Debonairs Pizza
Debonairs Pizza is a market-leading brand that owes its popularity to an ongoing focus on pizza innovation, generosity, quality ingredients and home delivery. Debonairs Pizza was the first African pizza brand to launch online and mobile ordering. Iconic crowd-pleasers include the Triple-Decker, Crammed-Crust and Double-Stack pizzas. Debonairs Pizza has always been known for trying out new and exciting flavours.
With a shoestring budget, two university students, Craig MacKenzie and Andrew Harvey, opened the first Debonairs Pizza restaurant in Pietermaritzburg in 1991. In 1996, Debonairs Pizza was acquired by the Steers Group, which would later become Famous Brands. In 1997, the brand opened its first restaurant outside South Africa in Eswatini. Debonairs Pizza has over 730 restaurants and a presence in 17 markets.
For further information:
Telephone: +27 11 651 5812
Email: investorrelations@famousbrands.dev.ince.co.za
About MESRA
Mesra Retail & Café Sdn Bhd (MESRA) operates over 800 Kedai Mesra outlets nationwide, offering a wide array of consumer products and services. Through partnerships with more than 50 strategic collaborators, MESRA delivers everyday convenience to customers across Malaysia. As part of its growth strategy, MESRA is actively expanding into new food and beverage (F&B) segments. Complementing its retail footprint, PETRONAS Shop provides a seamless e-commerce retail experience, featuring exclusive PETRONAS and Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team merchandise, along with active lifestyle apparel.
For further information:
Eva Goh
Email: eva.goh@mesraretail.com
About the Malaysian market
Malaysia boasts a fast-growing economy, with Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank, predicting GDP growth of between 4.0% and 4.8% in 20251. Malaysia’s population is 34.3 million, with an official unemployment rate of 3%.