Bidcorp

Bidcorp (officially Bidcorp Corporation Limited) is a South African catering supply company - producing, procuring, processing, storing, and distributing food, beverages, and cleaning supplies for firms around the world. It is headquartered in Sandton, and operates in numerous countries across the world, often under its Bidfood name.^[6][1]

Bidcorp

Trade name	Bidcorp Corporation Limited
Company type	Public
Traded as	JSE: BID
ISIN	ZAE000216537
Industry	Catering supplies[1] Food Hospitality
Founded	1989; 36 years ago (1989)
Founder	Brian Joffe[2]
Headquarters	Sandton , South Africa[3]
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Stephen Koseff (Chairman) Bernard Larry Berson (CEO)[4]
Services	Catering supplies (food, beverages, cleaning products) Importing Warehousing
Revenue	R225.9 billion (2024)[5]
Operating income	R54.4 billion (2024)[5]
Net income	R8 billion (2024)[5]
Total assets	R107.6 billion (2024)[5]
Total equity	R42.5 billion (2024)[5]
Number of employees	29,112 (2024)
Website	www.bidcorpgroup.com

Founded in 1989, it was previously part of the portfolio of companies under the banner of major South African corporation, Bidvest. Bidcorp as an independent entity was founded in 2016, when it split off from Bidvest, and listed separately on the JSE.

Bidcorp was South Africa's 9th largest company by revenue in 2022, and employed around 30,000 people worldwide.^[6]

History

Bidcorp was founded in 1989 by Brian Joffe,^[2] as the catering segment of Bidvest group's operations, when Chipkins and Sea World were acquired by the latter.^[7]

The company was incorporated as a private firm in South Africa in 1995.^[7]

In 2016, Bidcorp split off from Bidvest, taking the catering operations into a new corporation, which was listed separately on South Africa's largest stock exchange, the JSE.^[6]

The unbundling was said to provide Bidvest shareholders with the opportunity to participate directly in Bidcorp’s catering operations, as well as to enable each of the businesses to achieve their respective strategic goals.^[6]

Upon listing on the JSE, Bidcorp’s Chief Financial Officer confirmed that it was worth around two thirds of the original Bidvest group's value. The market capitalization of the two new, separated entities was about R18 billion more than that of the original group at the close of the JSE, on the day Bidcorp listed. Bidcorp's total market capitalization on listing was around R102 billion.^[8]

In 2017, Bidcorp founder Brian Joffe stepped down as CEO to manage Long4Life, a new JSE-listed lifestyle investment company he founded. He had served as Bidcorp's CEO since 2004.^[2]

Operations

Bidcorp operates in 35 countries, across all major regions of the globe, and supplies catering companies with products sourced internationally, and in their own local markets.^[9] Most of its operations are done under the "Bidfood" name, such as, for example, Bidfood SA, Bidfood Brazil, Bidfood Turkey, and Bidfood UK.^[10][11]

Bidcorp supplies major global catering companies with food, beverages, and cleaning supplies, among other things, from its own purpose-built facilities around the world. It also allows clients to purchase catering supplies through an in-house ecommerce solution called BidOne. Bidcorp supplies products under in-house and import brands.^[12]

The company operates storage (warehousing), transport depots, and a fleet of transport vehicles that feature modular compartments with heating and cooling, depending on the requirements of the contents.^[13]

The company focuses on high margin, independent businesses, and has adopted a direct-to-customer model for its catering services. Furthermore, Bidcorp has a focus on food category development, and the growth of high-value, specialist products within its portfolio.^[14]

In 2024, Bidcorp had a customer base of over 413,000, with 55% being independent customers, and 59% of all revenue generated coming from ecommerce platforms. 36% of the group's revenue was derived from Europe (excluding the United Kingdom), 28% from the UK, 20% from Australasia, and 14% from its emerging markets grouping (including Africa, South America, the Middle East, and South East Asia). In the same year, it was rated a BBBEE level 4 contributor.^[9]

Mergers and acquisitions

The company has entered into a significant number of mergers and acquisitions throughout its existence, as well as conducted a number of market entries and exits Its first acquisition dates back to the year of Bidcorp's inception, in 1989. Its most recent market entry was in 2012, in South America. Its most recent market exit was in 2025, when it closed its German operations.^{[9][7][15][16]}

Corporate social responsibility

In an effort to reduce energy usage, Bidcorp has installed solar panels on existing and new builds within its warehousing division, has invested in energy-efficient refrigeration, built out water-wise infrastructure, and continues to make improvements in its waste monitoring and reporting systems for packaging, to try and recycle and reuse wherever possible.^[9]

The company has also engaged with its stakeholders to help mitigate food system threats, as well as to develop programs designed to reduce carbon emissions. An example of the former is Bidcorp's rainwater harvesting system at its Gqeberha site. 40,000 liters of water is collected in tanks and used for irrigation, and a separate 20,000 liter system is used to collect rainwater to feed the evaporative condensers of the refrigeration plant, and capture condensate from the plant's defrosting cycles. The plant also uses reverse osmosis, and these measures together help protect it from Gqeberha's regular water outages.^[9]

Bidcorp also supports local projects for those in need, with over R30 million in cash donations made to charities in its 2024 fiscal year. In the same year, the company also donated around 1.85 tons of food.^[9]