The restaurant franchise group will report its results on or about Tuesday next week.
Taste Holdings - which owns Maxi's, The Fish & Chip Co, Zebro's Chicken and St Elmo's - brought global pizza brand Domino's to SA last year.
The multifranchise specialist said in a recent trading statement it expected core headline earnings for the period to be between a R0.5m loss to a R1m profit from R8.8m previously.
The group's jewellery segment, which includes NWJ and newly acquired Arthur Kaplan, has lately been a solid performer for the group, while its food franchising segment has felt pain due to lower consumer demand, particularly at the lower-end as well as investment in new brands.
Taste Holdings is due to open the first Starbucks store in Africa next year.
"Market analysis has identified a conservative market opportunity of more than 150 outlets in SA today. We foresee this growing to more than 200 in five years," it has said.
The global coffee giant signed a licence agreement with Taste Holdings in July.
An ever-increasing number of global brands continue to set their sights on SA, where expanding consumerism and a strong mall culture present an avenue of potential growth.
According to Taste Holdings, sales in converted Scooters stores continue to be, on average, more than 60% higher than before conversion. There are now 63 stores trading under the Domino's brand - of which 26 are corporate owned.
"Owning these stores is an essential requirement of conversion and to date over 1,600 people have been trained in these stores," it said.
This training requirement has, however, had the consequence that operational controls and efficiencies in these corporate stores has been less than optimal, contributing to the decline in food division earnings and group earnings.
More costs are on the cards for the launch and establishment of Starbucks, including pre-opening marketing and market research, employment costs of a dedicated Starbucks team, infrastructure and training.
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