Bootlegger Coffee Company exposed the names and contact details of franchisees and managers at 132 of its locations. The data sat on an old internal web dashboard that was not fully protected.
MyBroadband verified the exposed information. It said some performance and financial data from the business was also leaked.
“To date, there is no evidence that Bootlegger’s databases or core business systems were accessed. The company’s IT teams are continuing their review to confirm this,” CEO Ricky Ruthenberg said.
The problem came to light in October. People in South Africa’s tech community saw Instagram photos posted by Bootlegger staff. The photos showed the web address of what looked like an internal dashboard.
The dashboard had a login screen that asked for a username and password. But the application loaded a large amount of sensitive data in the background, and that data had no password protection.
The data was not shown on the screen. However, a person with some technical skill could reach it easily. AI tools could also be used to get past the login screen and view parts of the dashboard.
Ruthenberg told MyBroadband the system was an old version of an internal application the company calls BOS. He said it held outdated data.
“It is an internal operations dashboard which was previously used for café support scheduling, trade reporting, store visit reports, and action item management,” he said.
He said no customer data was collected on BOS, so customers were not at risk. He added that Bootlegger had already moved BOS to a secure environment.
“However, historical data remaining on the legacy platform had not yet been fully decommissioned, and it is this information that was exposed,” Ruthenberg said.
He confirmed that business performance data, café pipeline information and Google listing details were not protected by the login page. Business contact details were also open.
Those contact details included the names and email addresses of franchisees and operators. They also included the names and mobile numbers of general managers.
Bootlegger did not confirm or deny whether the web application was built through vibe-coding. Vibe-coding means using AI to write computer programs without fully checking or understanding the code.
Members of the tech industry believed the dashboard was vibe-coded. They pointed to how it looked and the fact that it seemed to date from July 2026.
In July 2026, Ruthenberg wrote on LinkedIn that he had spent several weeks of nights vibe-coding. He said he then told the 15 people who report to him to use Claude, an AI tool.
He said the team built a full AI adoption plan within six weeks. He said the result blew him away and that Bootlegger operations would never be the same.
“Software companies have long tried to own their ecosystem and lock you in, making integrations expensive and almost impossible. AI has completely levelled that playing field,” he said.
Bootlegger was started in Cape Town in 2012 by Pieter Bloem and brothers De Waal and Antonie Basson. The chain grew from 18 locations in 2019 to 86 stores in September 2025.
It opened its first store outside South Africa, in Windhoek, and reached 100 stores before the end of 2025. The company employs 3,500 people.
Ruthenberg said Bootlegger would report the exposure to the Information Regulator, as required by the Protection of Personal Information Act. The company will also contact the franchisees, operators and managers whose details were affected.
Source: this article is based on reporting by newsday.co.za. Image: newsday.co.za. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Technology desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Werner Jacobs covers technology for Tzaneen Voice. Werner reports on mobile networks, data prices, internet access, smartphones, apps, AI, cybersecurity and South African tech companies. Each story explains what a new product, price change or policy means for ordinary users in South Africa.