Choppies

Choppies was founded in 1986 with a single store, Wayside Supermarket (Proprietary) Limited, in Lobatse by the Chopdat family. A second store was opened in 1993.

By 1999, the company operated only two stores. Since then, it has grown to become a dominant player in Botswana’s fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry. The management team includes founding members Mr. Farouk Ismail, the current Deputy Chairman, and Mr. Ramachandaran Ottapathu, the current CEO. Both are major shareholders, each holding 34.2% of the company’s shares. In 2003, the group consolidated its operations under one structure, having previously operated under various franchise names.

Due to its exponential growth since 1999, there was growing demand for Choppies to be listed on the national stock exchange. The management team agreed, and the company was listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange on January 26, 2012. Grant Thornton was appointed to oversee the administration of the initial public offering, which saw 1.2 billion shares listed at BWP 1.15 per share, with 25% offered to the public. The IPO was the largest in the exchange’s history, raising BWP 350 million through the IPO and private placement, and was oversubscribed by up to 400%.

In 2008, Choppies opened its first store in Zeerust, South Africa, marking its expansion into the North West region. A South African distribution centre was launched in Rustenburg in September 2012 to serve the South African stores. In 2014, the group established its first distribution centre in Zimbabwe. The company completed its secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on May 27, 2015. By the end of 2015 Zambian operations began and in early 2016 saw the acquisition of Jwayelani group in Durban, South Africa. Kenyan acquisition of Ulkwala group was also carried out in early 2016. As part of long term growth plan the group opened its first store in Tanzania and Mozambique in 2017.

In 2020, Choppies closed its stores in South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya and Tanzania.

As of 2026, Choppies had 314 stores across three countries countries.

Distribution and supply

Choppies' distribution centres function as a central sourcing for Choppies stores. The company's top 200 products are delivered in bulk to the distribution centres and then distributed from there to the stores. Other products are delivered from the source to the stores directly. Choppies operates two distribution centres in Botswana; one in the International Commerce Park in Gaborone, and the other in Lobatse. A new 10,000m2

Welldone (Proprietary) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Choppies Group, is a logistics company that supports the day-to-day operations of the stores.

Criticism

Choppies has attracted criticism from the public in the past due to salary discrepancy. Employees such as cashiers and packers claim to earn less than P900 a month, whilst executives such as the CEO and Deputy Chairman earn more than P30 000 000.00 per annum. This has attracted outrage as the company is historically very profitable yet is not rewarding the lower-skilled workers on terms they consider fair to their efforts.