JOHANNESBURG: The recent 3.4 percent depreciation of the rand against the US dollar following charges levelled against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was not the good news Taste Holdings was expecting. Taste Holdings, which bought global brands Domino’s and Starbucks to South Africa, imports most of its ingredients and when the rand weakens it makes doing business more expensive as costs escalate.
Taste chief executive Carlo Gonzaga said yesterday that a stable environment was what the business needed right now so that investment could come to the country. “When we roll out our business by opening new stores it means that we import some of the ingredients associated with our business. When the rand weakens, it becomes difficult to do business because of our exposure to the exchange rate.
