Celebrating birthdays at Spur has been a cherished childhood experience for generations of South Africans. Nothing beats the moment when staff appear out of nowhere singing the Spur Birthday Song while the whole restaurant turns to see who the lucky recipient of the fanfare is.
This was no different as Spur celebrated 57th birthday this week, setting out to share that same feeling with kids in all its restaurants around the country on one day!
Voted South Africa’s Coolest Sit-Down Restaurant in the Sunday Times GenNext Survey in 2023, SA’s favourite family eatery hosted a nationwide birthday party by hosting kids from various backgrounds to parties in over 300 restaurants on the day.
One of the biggest gatherings was hosted at the newly revamped restaurant, Lone Creek Spur in Midrand’s Mall of Africa, where over 100 kids from the Soul Kidz Pre-School and Diepsloot Oratile ECD Centre were treated to a spectacular birthday celebration.
“This is the second year our franchisees have hosted birthday celebrations in our network for our 57th anniversary and we hope this great experience will continue,” chief marketing officer Vuyo Henda tells NOWinSA during a brief sitdown at the event, adding: “It was important that Spur’s birthday is celebrated with the kids, who are very important to us. In that regard, we invited about 100 kids in this branch alone to come spend the day with us to enjoy our famous hospitality – because we believe that every kid should have a Spur birthday experience once in their lives at least.”
The party was co-hosted by kid influencers Desmond ‘the feel-good kid’ Alakhe Mdoda, Maliyah Hammond, Lethu Nanas and Liam Burmeister. Guests were treated to a spectacular performance by the Mzansi Youth Choir.
“When the first Spur restaurant opened its doors in 1967, our co-founder Allen Ambor wanted to create an entirely new kind of restaurant,” added Henda. “One of the things that he was unhappy with was the fact that when parents were going to restaurants, kids were not allowed. It was just the mom and dad, they had to kind of dress up as it was a very formal event. So our founder thought of starting a business where children wouldn’t just be allowed, but would be celebrated. “So in some way, we’re continuing that tradition because what made this brand famous was exactly that; it became a go to place for families, where kids were made to feel they were part of the ambience, they were part of the atmosphere.”
In this spirit, and true to that vision, Spur’s birthday has enabled each of its 308 restaurants to host kids from their respective communities – especially those who don’t always get to be celebrated – to celebrate with Spur.
The celebrations support the establishment’s ECD (Early Childhood Development) feeding programme, and by and large the company’s long-term commitment to eradicate hunger – through the Spur Foundation’s Full Tummy Fund.
“When you think about it in the context of early childhood care and development, we know that the first seven years of a child are the most
Important formative experiences. So we thought it made sense for us to support causes that are linked to that. We have a foundation through which, this year alone, we’ve trained about 124 ECD teachers from various communities, as well as a feeding fund where we feed about 3200 kids everyday, so anything that has to do with kids, we are there.”
