One Brand, Multiple Stores, Multiple Versions of Maintenance

South Africa's franchise sector alone has more than 30,000 outlets. Add the retail chains, pharmacy groups, fuel forecourts and fast-food brands, and that's a lot of businesses running the same brand across many sites.

Head office sets the standards for the shopfront, the uniforms and the menu. Maintenance is usually left to each store: one manager has the aircon serviced every quarter, another waits until it stops cooling. One store keeps its fire equipment certificates in a file; another can't find them. One uses the group's preferred refrigeration contractor; another calls whoever answers first.

It works until something goes wrong, and then head office discovers it has as many ways of looking after the same equipment as it has stores.

The equipment every store depends on

Most retail and franchise sites run on the same core assets:

• Refrigeration: display fridges, freezers and cold rooms, where one failure can mean a full load of stock in the bin
• Air conditioning and ventilation: comfort for customers and staff, plus extraction in food outlets
• Backup power: generators, inverters and UPS units keeping tills, lights and fridges running
• Fire equipment: extinguishers, hose reels, detection and emergency lighting
• Electrical installations and signage: distribution boards, lighting and illuminated signs
• Kitchen equipment in quick-service and food franchises

How much stores depend on this equipment became clear during the worst of load-shedding: Shoprite reported spending R1.3 billion on diesel for generators across its South African supermarkets in a single financial year — about R3.5 million a day. Backup power only protects trading if it's maintained and tested before it's needed.

When equipment is looked after differently in every store, so are the results: different breakdown rates, different repair bills and different levels of compliance — under the same brand.

Summer and the festive season: when it all comes together

For retailers, the busiest time of year is also the hardest on equipment.

• Trading peaks. Black Friday and the festive season bring the year's highest feet through the door — on Black Friday 2024, FNB alone processed 20 million card transactions. Every store needs to be fully working, with no fridges switched off and no aircon out.
• Heat pushes equipment hardest. Refrigeration and air conditioning work hardest on the hottest days, and that's when weak units fail. In June 2026, a heatwave in the UK left shoppers reporting switched-off chillers, leaking freezers and cleared shelves at several major supermarket chains. Rupert Ashby of the British Frozen Food Federation said freezer systems were "working overtime" and warned that older stores may not be built for repeated spells of intense heat.
• Contractors go on holiday. The building and maintenance trades traditionally close from mid-December to early January. A breakdown on 27 December can mean waiting for whoever is available, at holiday call-out rates. (We wrote about this for hotels and lodges — the same applies to stores.)

The time to service refrigeration and aircon, test generators and fix the units that keep failing is October and November — before trade peaks, and before the heat and the holidays arrive.

Refrigeration: the cost nobody sees until it fails

For any store selling chilled or frozen goods, a refrigeration failure isn't just a repair bill. It's lost stock, an empty shelf and sometimes a closed store.

Insurance can help: deterioration of stock cover is designed for stock lost when refrigeration machinery breaks down. But underwriters look at how the risk is managed, including maintenance procedures and contingency plans. A store with a clear service history is in a far better position than one that can't say when the cold room was last checked.

There's also a longer-term change to plan for. South Africa is phasing out HCFC refrigerants such as R22 under the Montreal Protocol, and from 2026 imports are cut to a small fraction of previous levels. Many older fridges, cold rooms and aircon units still run on R22. As supply tightens, servicing them is likely to become harder and more expensive. A group that knows which units are affected, how old they are and what they cost to maintain can plan replacements store by store, rather than discovering the problem one breakdown at a time.

Compliance looks different from store to store

Each store has its own compliance obligations. The main ones for most retail sites are:

• Fire equipment servicing: extinguishers and hose reels serviced by an accredited company, with service records and labels up to date. As SAQCC Fire's John Caird has warned, poorly serviced extinguishers can fail — or even explode — and the business is held responsible. Insurers may also question a claim if the equipment wasn't serviced by a registered company.
• Electrical certificate of compliance: for the store's electrical installation, plus supplementary certificates whenever something is added, such as a generator, an inverter or solar installation. Insurers have rejected claims where the certificate couldn't be produced.
• Gas certificate of conformity: wherever there's a gas installation, such as in food outlets and bakeries.
• Other inspections where they apply, such as lifts and escalators in larger stores.

These certificates matter because they're the first thing a fire officer, insurer or landlord asks for — and they're asked for per store. Santam advises business owners to get compliance certificates for gas and electrical installations, which may be needed to meet insurance policy conditions when claiming.

The question head office really needs answered is simple: which stores are up to date, and which aren't? If the answer means phoning every store manager, the gaps are already there.

Contractors: who's doing the work, and how well?

Groups often use different contractors in different regions, and that makes sense. What matters is whether head office can see:

• which contractor looks after which store
• how quickly they respond and whether jobs are finished on time
• which stores keep calling them back for the same fault

Without that, a poor contractor in one region can quietly cost the business more than all the others put together.

Standards only work if you can see them

The answer isn't more paperwork for store managers. It's one consistent way of working across every store:

• The same assets recorded the same way, so a cold room in Durban and one in Polokwane can be compared.
• The same service schedules, so quarterly refrigeration checks happen everywhere, not just where the manager remembers.
• Faults reported the same way, with a photo, from the store floor.
• One place to see compliance, by store, with expiry dates.
• A history that stays with the asset, not with the manager who has since moved on.

How Axario Business helps

Axario Business gives head office and store teams one shared picture of every store's assets, maintenance and compliance.

• All stores and sites in one place. See every store, warehouse and office together, grouped by region or area, with executive reporting across the group.
• The right access for the right people. Store managers see their store, area managers see their region and head office sees everything, once people are assigned to their store or area.
• One schedule for many stores. Group the same assets across stores, such as every cold room in the group, and run one service schedule for all of them.
• Faults reported from the store floor. Staff report a problem from their phone with a photo, and it's reviewed and turned into a job for that store.
• Store checklists on a phone. Monthly walk-throughs and fire and emergency checks are completed on a phone with photos, and saved against the store.
• Certificates by store. Keep each store's fire equipment service records, electrical and gas certificates and other inspections in one register, with expiry dates and an overview of which stores are overdue — so when an insurer, fire officer or landlord asks, the proof is ready.
• Contractor performance compared. Reliability scores, on-time rates and response times for each contractor, so head office can see who delivers.
• Breakdowns and downtime recorded. Every time equipment fails, record when it went down and how long it was out of action. Over time, that history shows which assets and stores cause the most disruption, so you can decide where to repair or replace — for example, a cold room that has been down three times this year.

Multiple stores can still have one standard. You just need to be able to see it.

Frequently asked questions

How do retail chains keep maintenance consistent across stores? Use the same asset records, service schedules and fault-reporting process in every store, and give head office one view of all of them. Consistency comes from shared standards that can be checked, not from relying on each store manager.

What compliance certificates does a retail store need? Typically, fire equipment service records from an accredited company, an electrical certificate of compliance (with supplementary certificates for any additions) and a gas certificate of conformity where there's a gas installation, plus lift or escalator inspections where applicable. Requirements vary by store and landlord, so confirm with your registered contractors and insurer.

How should retailers prepare for the festive season? Service refrigeration and air conditioning, test backup power under load, replace units that keep failing and check that certificates are current — ideally in October and November. Then confirm which contractors are available over the December shutdown.

What does the R22 phase-out mean for retailers? R22 is being phased out in South Africa, and imports are sharply reduced from 2026. Equipment running on R22 can still be serviced, but supply is shrinking and costs are likely to rise. Knowing which units use it lets you plan replacements rather than react to breakdowns.

So you can know your risk, control your assets and prove your compliance.