For 38 years, Nando’s hasn’t just served chicken — it’s served a way of being South African. Now the brand is turning that flame inward and firing it up again.
This November, Nando’s did more than launch a new ad campaign. It staged a homecoming. The new brand direction, “Oh What a Place!”, isn’t a tagline — it’s a signal that the original South African maverick remains a cultural institution that cooks as boldly as the people it serves.
It’s a return to the ingredients that built one of SA’s most loved brands: flame-grilled food, warm hospitality, and a sense of humour that could only come from here.
From category noise to cultural signal
Nando’s has never been just a restaurant. It’s a meeting point for everything that makes this country hum — humour, heat, and humanity served with flame-grilled precision.
But in a world where brands fight to stay relevant with hashtags and half-baked “purpose”, Nando’s is making its mark the old-fashioned way: with substance, flavour, and feeling.
Nando’s chief Brand and Customer officer Jessica Wheeler says: “This isn’t a campaign. It’s a reset — a return to the way Nando’s was built from day one. Great food. Warm people. A place that feels unmistakably South African.”
The thread running through it all? It’s the people who make the chicken.
That’s not copywriting. That’s the business model.
Turning up the flame — not the volume
The new brand ad — watch it below — brings the full orchestra to the table.
It’s narrated by legendary news anchor Noxolo Grootboom, features local hip hop megastar Kwesta and Rachel (a Nandoca turned TikTok phenomenon), real Nando’s grillers, and spotlights a cast of South Africans who embody that elusive “thing” you can’t quite explain — but you know it when you feel it.
The ad doesn’t explain the culture — it lives in it.
“This isn’t a performance — it’s a mirror. The humour, the heart, the hustle. One flame-grilled scene at a time,” says Melusi Mhlungu, COO of We Are Bizarre, the creative agency behind the campaign.
That’s what happens when creativity stops chasing trends and starts reflecting people.
The strategy under the skin
Nando’s CEO Mike Cathie doesn’t take for granted the operational shifts needed to meet the now public promise of a surprising, delightful Nando’s experience.
“We’ve been rebuilding from the kitchen out — to focus on what gives us our real fire: exceptional food, a better total experience, and a brand that reflects the true spirit of SA.”
That’s not PR fluff. It’s operational muscle. Everything — from service rituals to design to menu — has been engineered, optimised, and in many instances, reimagined to signal a return to what really matters to customers. More generous meals. Louder laughs. Bigger sauce bottles. And in some restaurants, that even means bottomless soft serve and drinks.
It’s a deliberate shift from fast to full.
Why it matters
In a category obsessed with convenience, Nando’s is betting on something messier and more meaningful: people and connection. It’s leaning into what South Africans have always recognised as its unfair advantage: energy, optimism, and the kind of warmth that can’t be automated.
This isn’t about going back. It’s about going deeper. Because the real Nando’s story was never written in ad copy — it was lived, daily, by the people behind the counter, in the kitchen, and at the table. The same creativity and resilience that built the brand more than three decades ago, are now being used to reimagine its future.
It’s easy to dismiss this as nostalgia. It’s not. It’s strategy. Nando’s is rediscovering its greatest advantage — it just feels like home. Nando’s hasn’t found a new purpose statement; they’ve simply remembered the old one:
It’s the people who make the chicken.
That’s not a campaign. That’s a comeback.
This article was sponsored by Nando’s.
