Crowd enjoying a lively outdoor festival at night with a vibrant Nando's food truck serving flame-grilled PERi-PERi chicken.

Our Story
South African born, Portuguese-inspired

Where the flame began...

Ask someone where Nando’s is from and you’d get a mix of answers. We were born in South Africa, with a blend of Portuguese and British culture along the way...

It all started in Mozambique, home of the hot sun, rich soil... and African Bird’s Eye Chillies. Also known as PERi-PERi. Small but mighty, these chillies have been used for centuries in local Mozambiquan cooking. The Portuguese then added a squeeze of lemon and kick of garlic to make the first PERi-PERi sauce.

Used on just about anything, they found it was the ultimate baste for flame-grilling spatchcocked chicken. And it wasn’t long before two friends in Johannesburg came to experience the taste of PERi-PERi chicken and Nando’s was born. Fast forward a few years, restaurants and Fino Pittas and today, the Nando’s PERi-PERi you know and love still pays homage to those roots.

More than just chicken and chips

That’s still important. But there’s loads more to us than food.

This is PERi-PERi

This is PERi-PERi

The history behind our famous African Bird’s Eye Chillies.
Music

Music

The other thing we’re known for – our Afro-Luso music we play loudly and proudly.
Art

Art

We're a feast for the eyes too – every restaurant is its own gallery.
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Being sustainable

It’s important to us. Not just as a business and our food, but for our people and planet.

For the Planet

For the Planet

We’ve always wanted to make sure that our restaurants are not just beautiful spaces to be in, but that they also support their local communities and have a minimal impact on the planet...
For the Food

For the Food

We know that our food is a big part of the environmental impact of our business and we’re doing everything we can to keep that impact as low as possible...
For the People

For the People

At Nando's we’re all about the people. It's the people that make the chicken and it’s the people that bring the passion to our restaurants...