All Fast Food Chains in South Africa: Menu Prices

 

Every fast food chain we track in South Africa is listed below. Each guide breaks down the full menu with current prices in rands, from single items to family combos, so you know what to expect before you order. Prices are checked against each chain’s official channels and updated regularly.

 

 

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South African Fast Food Prices Compared: What We Found

 

Tracking every major chain on one site means we can do something a single brand page cannot: compare the same item across all of them. Below are the benchmarks that came out of our latest price check, along with the pricing patterns that repeat across the industry.

 

The cheapest burger in the country

 

The Hungry Lion Dixie Burger at R22.90 is the cheapest burger of any chain we track. Next comes McDonald’s, where both the Hamburger and the Chicken Burger are R26.90, then Burger King at R29.90 for a Hamburger.

 

The sit-down chains start considerably higher. Steers begins at R34.90 for a Phanda Rave, although that price includes small chips, and Wimpy starts at R49.90 for a Quick Bite Wimpy Burger. At Spur the cheapest burger is the R78.90 Crumbed Veggie.

 

For a complete meal rather than a burger alone, the Hungry Lion Zamba Wing It at R29.90 is the cheapest we found anywhere, with the McDonald’s Cheeseburger Meal at R39.90 the best value at the big three.

 

What cheese and a second patty cost at each chain

 

Adding cheese to a burger ranges from R2 to R10 depending purely on where you are standing. Hungry Lion charges R2, McDonald’s R4, Burger King R5 on the standard range and R6 on a WHOPPER, and Wimpy R5 in its Quick Bite tier. Steers, Spur and Wimpy’s Classic tier all charge R10, five times the Hungry Lion price for the same slice.

 

Second patties vary even more. The cheapest are R10, at Burger King on a Double Cheeseburger, Hungry Lion on a Double Dixie and Wimpy in the Quick Bite range. McDonald’s charges R13 and Spur R18 on the Original Spur Burger. At the other end, Burger King charges R30 to double a WHOPPER, and Spur charges R43 to double a Rib Burger, over four times the cheapest rate in the market.

 

Coffee: the ranking flips depending on what you order

 

On a cappuccino, Wimpy and McDonald’s McCafé are joint cheapest at R26.90, Burger King’s Café Royale is R36.90, and Starbucks is R47.00, which is R20.10 above the cheapest.

 

On an Americano the order reverses completely. Starbucks is cheapest at R31.00, Burger King is R32.90, Wimpy is R36.90 and McDonald’s is the most expensive at R38.90. If you drink black coffee, Starbucks is genuinely the value option in South African fast food.

 

Chicken by the piece

 

For bulk chicken the two chains to compare are KFC and Hungry Lion, and they land remarkably close. KFC’s 21 Piece Bucket works out to R14.28 a piece and Hungry Lion’s 20 Piece Bucket to R14.25. Hungry Lion’s 26 Piece Variety Bucket is the cheapest chicken we found at R10.57 a piece, with the caveat that a variety bucket mixes pieces with winglets rather than being uniform portions.

 

For a whole bird, Steers is the clear winner at R164.90 for a Full Chicken, against R189.90 for a Spur Full Spatchcock and R219.90 for a Wimpy Full Chicken.

 

How We Source These Prices

 

The comparisons above, and every price table across this site, are built the same way. Source: each chain’s own published national menu and in-store menu boards, checked item by item and recorded exactly as printed, .90 endings included, with no rounding. Meals and combos are labelled as such so you can see what is included, and standalone items are listed separately.

 

Why your till slip may not match. Every chain we track trades as a franchise network to some degree, and franchisees have room to set their own prices. Branches inside airports, casinos, resorts, petrol-station forecourts and tourist areas consistently run above the national menu, while some smaller-town branches run below it. Treat every number on this site as the national reference price and expect a few rand of variance either way at your local branch.

 

We do not use delivery-app pricing. Listings on Uber Eats, Mr D and similar platforms carry a mark-up over the in-restaurant menu, which is why the same item looks more expensive on an app than it does at the counter. Every figure here is the walk-in price.

 

Kept current. Each chain’s menu page is re-checked against its own official channels on a rolling basis, and carries its own last-verified date. Spotted a price that has changed? Send us the branch name, chain and item on our contact page and we will re-check it and update the table.

 

Five pricing patterns that repeat across every chain

 

1. Water costs more than a soft drink. At McDonald’s, Bonaqua Still Water is R24.90 while a Coke No-Sugar is R21.90. At Wimpy, Mineral Water is R27.90 against R23.90 for a soda and R22.90 for an energy drink. Ordering the healthiest drink on the board is consistently the most expensive choice. Starbucks is the exception at R22.00, the cheapest bottled water we found.

 

2. Salads are priced as mains, not as the cheap option. The McDonald’s Crispy Chicken Salad at R77.90 costs R5 more than a Big Mac. A full Greek Salad at Spur is R94.90, within R5 of a Half Chicken. Choosing the salad saves calories, never money.

 

3. Kids’ meals often cost more than the cheapest adult meal. The Steers Bratpack Kids Rib Strips meal is R89.90 while a Phanda King Steer Burger with chips is R54.90. Wimpy kids’ combos start at R69.90 against R64.90 for a Quick Bite Double Cheese Burger. If your child will eat a standard burger, the adult budget range is cheaper and bigger.

 

4. “Double” bundles are frequently not discounts at all. The Roman’s Pizza Double Large Sava Flava is R169.80, which is exactly two times the R84.90 large. The Hungry Lion 2x Big Boss Burger Meal is R119.80, exactly two times the R59.90 single. Always multiply the single price before assuming the bundle saves you anything.

 

5. Bigger is usually better value, but check. The rule holds almost everywhere: KFC’s last six bucket pieces cost R10.00 each, Hungry Lion’s last five cost R10.00, and a Steers Full Chicken saves R54.90 over two halves. But there are real exceptions. Hungry Lion’s 20 Winglets at R134.90 is worse value per winglet than the 12 at R72.90, and two small Sava Flava pizzas at R59.80 beat one large at R84.90. The exceptions are where the money is.

 

Which chain is cheapest overall?

 

On raw price per item, Hungry Lion is the cheapest chain in South Africa, and it is not close. It holds the cheapest burger, the cheapest cheese upcharge and the cheapest complete meal. McDonald’s is the most competitive of the international brands, largely because of its promotions range rather than its main menu. Burger King is mid-priced with a handful of genuine bargains such as the Double Cheeseburger. Steers, Wimpy and Spur are priced as sit-down experiences, where the value sits in whole chickens, full rib racks and the budget tiers most people walk past.

 

For a full breakdown of the sub-R50 options at every chain, see our guide to the cheapest fast food under R50 in South Africa.