Pedros or Nando’s? Prices, Portions and Taste Compared
Quick answer: is Pedros cheaper than Nando’s?
Yes, and by a lot. A full flame-grilled chicken is R124.99 at Pedros against R205.00 at Nando’s, a saving of R80.01. A quarter chicken with chips and a roll is R49.99 at Pedros and R82.00 at Nando’s. Pedros is cheaper on every chicken portion, burger, wrap, side and family meal. The one exception is wings, where a Nando’s 10-pack of winglets works out to about R8.50 each against R10.00 for a Pedros wing. Nando’s still wins on vegetarian options, sauce range and sit-down service.
Pedros built its entire business on being the cheaper Nando’s. Founded in Durban in 2018, it grew to 200-plus branches by undercutting the established flame-grilled peri-peri chicken market on price, and South African media has covered the rivalry as a genuine “chicken war” ever since, with Galito’s, Barcelos and Chicken Licken scrapping over the same customers from the sidelines. The question is whether the gap between Pedros or Nando’s is real, and what you give up to get it. The short version: the gap is real and it is large, but the two menus are less alike than they first appear.
The Headline Numbers
Start with chicken on its own, no sides, no combos. This is the fairest possible comparison because it is the same product in the same portions.
| Chicken Only | Nando’s | Pedros | You Save at Pedros |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/4 Chicken | R60.00 | R32.99 | R27.01 |
| 1/2 Chicken | R105.00 | R64.99 | R40.01 |
| Full Chicken | R205.00 | R124.99 | R80.01 |
A full chicken costs R80 less at Pedros. Put differently, you can buy a full Pedros chicken and a half chicken on top for less than one full chicken at Nando’s. The gap widens as portions get bigger, which is the opposite of what usually happens when a cheaper brand competes on price.
Chicken Meals With Sides
Most people order a meal, not bare chicken. Here the gap narrows slightly but still runs firmly in Pedros’ favour.
| Meal | Nando’s | Pedros |
|---|---|---|
| 1/4 chicken plus one side | R70.00 | R44.99 |
| 1/4 chicken, chips and a roll | R82.00 | R49.99 |
| 1/2 chicken plus one side | R125.00 | R79.99 |
| Full chicken plus sides | R244.00 (one sharing side) | R149.99 (large chips) |
The quarter chicken with chips and a roll is the cleanest like-for-like on this page, R82.00 at Nando’s against R49.99 at Pedros. That is a R32 difference on what is functionally the same plate.
Wings, Where Nando’s Fights Back
This is the one category where the pricing flips, and it is worth knowing if wings are what you actually came for.
| Wings | Price | Per Wing |
|---|---|---|
| Nando’s 6 Regular Winglets | R55.00 | About R9.17 |
| Nando’s 10 Regular Winglets | R85.00 | About R8.50 |
| Pedros 4 Wings | R39.99 | About R10.00 |
Per wing, Nando’s is cheaper, especially in the ten pack. The catch is portion size, a Nando’s winglet is smaller than a full Pedros wing, so you are not comparing identical pieces. Still, if you want a lot of wings rather than a lot of chicken, Nando’s is genuinely competitive here in a way it is not anywhere else on this page.
Burgers, Wraps and Pitas: Pedros or Nando’s
Pedros runs a consistent three-tier structure on every burger and wrap: the item alone, the item with chips, or the item as a full meal with chips and a drink. Nando’s uses a simpler two-tier system, the item alone or the item plus a side.
| Item | Nando’s | Pedros |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest burger | Pulled Chicken Burger with Cheese, R61.00 | Sprinkle Chicken Burger, R29.99 |
| Standard chicken burger | Chicken Burger, R79.00 | Chicken Burger, R35.99 |
| Signature burger | Grande Cheese Burger, R99.00 | Don Pedro Burger, R35.99 |
| Chicken wrap | R85.00 | R39.99 |
| Loaded wrap option | Pulled Chicken and Cheese Wrap, R83.00 | Fully Loaded Wrap, R49.99 |
The burger gap is the widest on the whole comparison. A standard chicken burger costs more than twice as much at Nando’s, R79.00 against R35.99. Nando’s does offer pitas, which Pedros does not, but on straight price this category is not close.
Family Meals and Sharing
Both chains take group orders seriously, but they structure them completely differently. Nando’s builds up from a full chicken by adding sharing sides in fixed steps. Pedros sells pre-built bundles at flat prices.
| Sharing Option | Price |
|---|---|
| Pedros Full Chicken & 4 Rolls | R139.99 |
| Pedros Viva Meal | R159.99 |
| Pedros Full Meal | R199.99 |
| Nando’s Full Chicken + 1 Sharing Side | R244.00 |
| Pedros Maxi Combo | R259.99 |
| Nando’s Full Chicken + 2 Sharing Sides | R279.00 |
| Pedros Mega Meal | R309.99 |
| Nando’s Full Chicken + 4 Sharing Sides | R339.00 |
Pedros’ Viva Meal at R159.99 is the standout here, a full spread for less than Nando’s charges for a full chicken with a single sharing side. If you are feeding a family on a budget, this is the comparison that decides it.
Platters
| Platter | Price |
|---|---|
| Nando’s Cabo Sosatie Snack Platter | R375.00 |
| Pedros Kids Platter | R389.99 |
| Pedros Chicken Platter | R509.99 |
| Nando’s full platters (four varieties) | R695.00 each |
Nando’s full platters all sit at R695.00, roughly R185 above Pedros’ largest platter. Worth noting on the Pedros side: the “Kids Platter” name is misleading, at R389.99 it is a large group sharing platter, not a children’s meal, so check contents with your branch before ordering it for actual kids.
Sides and Extras
| Side | Nando’s | Pedros |
|---|---|---|
| Regular chips | R35.00 | R17.99 |
| Sharing or large chips | R48.00 | R27.99 |
| Pap | Casa Pap, R35.00 | Pap & Chakalaka, R19.99 |
| Bread roll | 4 Nando’s Rolls, R48.00 | Portuguese Roll, R5.99 each |
| Salad | Grilled Chicken Salad, R90.00 | Chicken Salad, R39.99 |
Sides are roughly half price at Pedros across the board. Its Portuguese Roll at R5.99 is the cheapest item on either menu. This matters more than it looks, because sides are where a chicken order quietly inflates, and ordering three or four of them at Nando’s adds up fast.
What R100 and R200 Actually Buys You
Comparison tables are useful, but nobody walks into a chicken shop thinking in percentages. They walk in with a number in their head. Here is what the two most common South African fast food budgets stretch to at each brand, using the same national prices as the tables above.
| Your budget | At Nando’s | At Pedros |
|---|---|---|
| R100 | One 1/4 chicken with chips and a roll, R82.00, and R18 change | Two 1/4 chicken, chips and roll meals, R99.98. Or a 1/2 chicken with a side plus a regular chips, R97.98 |
| R200 | Not enough for a plain Full Chicken, which is R205.00. Best fit is a 1/2 chicken with a side plus a regular chips, R160.00 | The Pedros Full Meal at R199.99. Or the Viva Meal at R159.99 with a large chips at R27.99, R187.98 |
The R100 row is the one that explains how Pedros grew to 200-plus branches in seven years. A hundred rand feeds one person at Nando’s and two people at Pedros. The R200 row is arguably worse: two hundred rand does not cover a bare Nando’s full chicken with no sides at all, while at Pedros it covers a full family spread with change left for a drink.
Taste, Sauces and Portion Size
Price is the easy part to measure. The argument South Africans actually have online is whether the cheaper bird is the worse bird, and that comes down to three things: the basting, the grill, and how much chicken lands on the plate.
Sauces and heat levels
Nando’s sells heat as a scale. Its PERi-ometer runs from Plain…ish and Lemon & Herb through Mild, Hot and Extra Hot, with Mango & Lime appearing as the sweeter option, all built on African Bird’s Eye chilli. It also sells bottled PERi-PERi sauce to take home and stocks it in supermarkets, which Pedros does not do at anything like the same scale.
Pedros keeps the range tighter: Lemon & Herb, Mild, Hot and Extra Hot bastings, with extra basting sold as an add-on at around R39.99. What Pedros has that Nando’s does not is a second route entirely, the Sprinkle, a dry spice coating instead of a wet sauce. That is why the cheapest burger on the Pedros menu is called the Sprinkle Chicken Burger, and it is the single biggest flavour difference between the two chains that never shows up in a price table.
Portion size and what you really pay per piece
Buy the whole bird and the per-portion maths gets brutal. A Pedros full chicken at R124.99 works out to R31.25 a quarter. A Nando’s full chicken at R205.00 works out to R51.25 a quarter, R20 more for the same fraction of a chicken.
Buying in pieces punishes you at both chains, but far more at Nando’s. Four separate quarter chickens cost R240.00 there against R205.00 for the whole bird, a penalty of about 17 percent. At Pedros four quarters cost R131.96 against R124.99, closer to 6 percent. If you are ordering for more than one person, the whole chicken is almost always the right call, and it is the more urgent call at Nando’s.
The one place portion size flips the argument is wings. A Nando’s winglet is a smaller piece than a full Pedros wing, so the per-wing figures in the table above flatter Nando’s more than the plate does. Count grams rather than pieces and that gap narrows a long way.
So which one tastes better?
Taste is personal, but the public record leans one way on value and the other on flavour. When News24 ran a staff tasting during its 2023 coverage of the chicken wars, most of its tasters came down on the Pedros side, largely because they got more food for the money. Sentiment on Reddit, Facebook and TikTok is more split, and the line that repeats in comment section after comment section is some version of “price Pedros, taste Nando’s”.
Nando’s regulars point to the marinade and to consistency between branches. Pedros regulars point at the till slip. Both are franchise networks, so the branch you walk into matters more than the logo above the door, and a well-run Pedros will beat a tired Nando’s on any given night.
What Only One of Them Has
Price is only half the story. Each menu carries things the other simply does not offer.
Only at Pedros: Loaded Paella, a rice-based dish paired with chicken portions that almost no other South African fast food chain sells. Also chicken nuggets and bites, loaded fries, cheesy fries, and jalapeño rissoles, none of which have a Nando’s equivalent.
Only at Nando’s: Pitas, Boujee Bowls, Hotpot rice and pap bowls, Cabo Sosatie skewers, Cheesy Rissoles, churros and Da Malva Pudding for dessert, and a breakfast menu at select branches. Nando’s also has espresso-based coffee, which Pedros does not carry.
Vegetarian Options, a Real Gap
This is the clearest non-price difference between the two, and it goes decisively to Nando’s. Every Nando’s burger, wrap and pita comes in a veg version at the same price as the chicken one, plus Boujee Bowls with a veg patty, the Veggie Veggie Nice Platter, and meat-free sides like PERi-Spinach.
Pedros has one fully vegetarian item outside the sides menu, the Slaw Wrap at R36.99. Its sides are vegetarian-friendly (chips, rice, wedges, pap and chakalaka, coleslaw, garden and Greek salads), but there are no meat-substitute mains. If you are ordering for a mixed group with vegetarians in it, Nando’s handles that far better.
Kids’ Menus
| Kids’ Meal | Price |
|---|---|
| Nando’s Nandinos range (four options, all with chips) | R53.00 |
| Pedros Kids Meals (three options) | R54.99 |
Almost identical on price, R53.00 against R54.99, and both bundle chips in. Nando’s offers one extra option and includes a veg burger choice, which Pedros does not.
Reach, Halaal and Ownership
| Nando’s | Pedros | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1987, Johannesburg | 2018, Durban |
| Branches in South Africa | 300+ | 200+ |
| Also operates in | Worldwide | Botswana |
| Halaal | Many branches certified, varies | Generally certified, varies by branch |
| Format | Sit-down restaurant with table service | Takeaway-led |
Nando’s has the bigger footprint and nearly three decades more history in the country. It is also a proper sit-down restaurant with table service and an alcohol licence at many branches, where Pedros is built primarily around takeaway and delivery. That difference in format explains a meaningful part of the price gap.
The Verdict
If you want the most chicken for your money, order Pedros. It is cheaper on every chicken portion, every burger, every wrap, every side, and every family bundle. On a full chicken you save R80. That is not a marginal difference you can argue about, it is close to double.
If wings are the whole point of the meal, Nando’s is competitive. Per wing it works out slightly cheaper, particularly the ten pack.
If anyone in your group is vegetarian, order Nando’s. Every burger, wrap and pita has a veg version at the same price. Pedros has one veg item outside its sides menu.
If you want to sit down and be served, that is Nando’s. Table service, a wider menu, breakfast at some branches, and desserts. Pedros is built for takeaway, and its pricing reflects that.
If you want something different, Pedros has the more unusual menu. The Loaded Paella range has no equivalent anywhere in South African fast food, and it is genuinely worth trying if you have only ever ordered chicken and chips.
See the Full Menus
- Full Pedros menu prices
- Full Nando’s menu prices
- Chicken Licken vs Pedros compared
- Chicken Licken menu prices
- KFC menu prices
- Hungry Lion menu prices
- All South African fast food chains and prices
Pedros vs Nando’s: Quick Answers
Is Pedros cheaper than Nando’s?
Yes, substantially. A full chicken is R124.99 at Pedros against R205.00 at Nando’s, a difference of R80. Pedros is also cheaper on quarter and half chickens, burgers, wraps, sides and family meals. The one exception is wings, where Nando’s works out slightly cheaper per wing.
How much is a full chicken at Pedros vs Nando’s?
R124.99 at Pedros and R205.00 at Nando’s, for the same flame-grilled full chicken with no sides included.
Which is better for a family meal?
Pedros, on price. Its Viva Meal at R159.99 is a full spread for less than Nando’s charges for a full chicken with one sharing side (R244.00). At the top end, the Pedros Mega Meal is R309.99 against R339.00 for a Nando’s full chicken with four sharing sides.
Why is Nando’s more expensive than Pedros?
Nando’s operates as a sit-down restaurant with table service, a much wider menu including pitas, bowls, breakfast and desserts, an alcohol licence at many branches, and nearly forty years of brand history. Pedros is takeaway-led and competes deliberately on price through in-house manufacturing and distribution.
Which has better vegetarian options?
Nando’s, clearly. Every burger, wrap and pita has a vegetarian version at the same price as the chicken one, plus veg bowls, a veg platter and meat-free sides. Pedros has one fully vegetarian item outside its sides menu, the Slaw Wrap at R36.99.
Are both halaal?
Both have halaal certification at many branches, but it varies by individual store for each brand. Confirm with your local Pedros or Nando’s before ordering.
Are Pedros and Nando’s the same company?
No. They are separate businesses and direct competitors. Nando’s was founded in Rosettenville, Johannesburg in 1987 by Robert Brozin and Fernando Duarte and is majority owned by the Enthoven family. Pedros is a separate South African chain founded in Durban in 2018, with Moosa Bux the name most associated with its founding. Both operate as franchise networks.
What can I get at Pedros for R100?
Just under R100 buys two quarter chicken meals with chips and a roll at R49.99 each, or a half chicken with a side at R79.99 plus a regular chips at R17.99. The same R100 at Nando’s buys one quarter chicken with chips and a roll at R82.00.
Which tastes better, Pedros or Nando’s?
Both flame-grill their chicken, so this comes down to the basting. Nando’s has the wider range, from Plain…ish and Lemon & Herb up to Extra Hot on its PERi-ometer, plus bottled PERi-PERi to take home. Pedros offers Lemon & Herb, Mild, Hot and Extra Hot, plus a dry Sprinkle spice option Nando’s does not have. Online sentiment generally gives Nando’s the edge on flavour and Pedros the edge on value.
Is Pedros cheaper than Chicken Licken and KFC too?
Against Nando’s the answer is a clear yes, but the picture changes against fried chicken chains. Chicken Licken tends to win on wings and single lunch items while Pedros wins on whole grilled birds, and KFC competes hardest on buckets and family bundles. See our Chicken Licken vs Pedros comparison and KFC menu prices for the numbers.
Are Pedros and Nando’s delivery prices the same as in store?
No. Menu prices on Uber Eats and Mr D Food are usually marked up above the in-store list at both chains, before delivery fees and service charges are added. The figures on this page are in-store national prices, so treat them as the floor rather than what a delivery app will charge you.
Prices last checked August 2026. Both brands run on franchises, so prices at your local branch may differ slightly from the figures above. Delivery app pricing on Uber Eats and Mr D Food is usually higher than in-store. Always confirm before you order.