Chicken Inn is a quick service restaurant (QSR) offering a range of meal options, including fried chicken, burgers, fresh rotisserie chicken, chicken wings, chicken nuggets, and chips. 

Other brands include Pizza Inn, known for its wide variety of pizzas, and Creamy Inn, which offers a selection of soft-serve ice cream products, milkshakes, and other desserts. 

It is owned by Simbisa Brands, a subsidiary of Innscor Africa Limited, which officially opened its first Chicken Inn outlet in 1987 in Harare, Zimbabwe. 

Innscor was listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) in 1998 to enhance its presence across Africa. 

Simbisa Brands was fully incorporated as a subsidiary on August 5, 2015. 

It acquired all the assets and liabilities of the QSR Business from Innscor in exchange for 541,593,440 shares in the company. 

This enabled the company to expand to Ghana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Malawi, Swaziland, Mauritius, the DRC, Malawi, and Kenya. 

Innscor was founded in 1997 by Zinona Zed Koudounaris, popularly known as Zed, and Michael Fowler. 

Zed Koudounaris

He was born in Zimbabwe and completed his tertiary education at Rhodes University in South Africa, where he obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree, majoring in Business and Computer Sciences. 

Zed is a founding shareholder of Innscor. 

He was the driving force behind the initial creation and success of Innscor’s core fast-food brands. 

He has held various positions within Innscor, including Chief Executive Officer upon the Group’s listing in 1998. 

Zed remains highly active in pursuing strategic growth opportunities for the Group and providing guidance to its management team. 

Zed’s interests now include other ZSE-listed companies like Padenga, Axia Holdings, and Simbisa Brands. 

Innscor itself has grown to become one of the largest conglomerates in Zimbabwe, with interests in Colcom, National Foods, Capri, Profeeds, Pro Brands, NatPak, and Irvines. 

He is considered to be among the richest people in Zimbabwe, with an estimated net worth of around $1.1 billion.

Michael Fowler 

Fowler serves as a non-executive director. 

He also sits on the Audit and Risk Committee, Nominations Committee, and Remuneration Committee. 

He has worked as a director at Padenga since 1993. 

Accusations Against Zed and Fowler 

In 2015, authorities accused Zed and Fowler of opening four companies in the British Virgin Islands and transferring money from their salaries to those offshore firms. 

This violated regulations requiring Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe approval for transferring earnings abroad. 

The outcome of those accusations remains unclear.

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Simbisa Chicken Inn and Pizza Inn Branches

Simbisa Brands owns, operates, and franchises Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of a basket of QSR brands. 

It is unique in that it not only owns the IPRs of the brands within its portfolio but also owns and operates a majority of the outlets of the QSR brands. 

Simbisa is a Pan-African QSR operator that currently operates QSR restaurants in 11 countries across Africa, with future ambitions of further expansion across the region. 

The QSR Business opened its inaugural Chicken Inn outlet in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1987. 

Following the opening of the original Chicken Inn, the QSR Business has expanded phenomenally with the addition of new brands and the franchising of existing brands.

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Growth in Africa

In 1998, Innscor listed on the ZSE, utilising the QSR Business to spread its footprint into Africa as a diverse Pan-African operation. 

In the process, QSR outlets were opened in Zambia, Kenya, and Ghana. 

Since then, the QSR Business has grown to own and franchise outlets all across Africa, including Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, DRC, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, Mauritius, and Swaziland. 

Its stores can be found along busy transport routes, in central business districts, in urban areas, as well as food courts; all these locations ensure consistent access to large volumes of consumers. 

The company is unique in that it not only owns the IPRs of the brands within its portfolio but also owns and operates the outlets of the QSR brands. 

Furthermore, Simbisa owns the master license to other successful brands such as Galito’s Africa, Nando’s (Zimbabwe only), Steers (Zimbabwe only), Rocomama’s (Zimbabwe only), and Vida E Caffé.

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