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The South African brothers who founded a retail giant cheaper than Woolworths, Checkers, and Pick n Pay | SA News

Malcolm Libera
 ·9 Nov 2025

Food Lover’s Market, one of the most recognisable names in South Africa today, began as a single fresh produce shop run by two brothers, Brian and Mike Coppin.

The pair came from a family familiar with the retail trade. Their father had been a director at OK Bazaars, before that chain was absorbed into the Shoprite Group in 1997.

Drawing on that background, the brothers set out to build a business focused on fresh food at low prices, filling a gap they observed in the market at the time.

The first step came in 1993, when the…

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