TALES of resilience have emerged as restaurant owners and businesses attempt to keep doors open during the latest Covid-19 restrictions to hit the industry.
With a little over a week to go until Level 4 lockdown restrictions are understood to remain in effect, business owners are finding innovative ways to continue doing business.
Restaurants are restricted from offering sit-down services - many have closed their doors for the duration.
Spokesperson for the Restaurant Association of South Africa Wendy Alberts said this latest round of restrictions has signalled the last death knell for some owners who were trying to hang on to their businesses for the past year.
The organisation has written to President Cyril Ramaphosa in an attempt to ease restrictions for the sector.
“We have shown that we could trade safely during the pandemic, particularly during the Easter period. But this time around we were not consulted, and our members are expected to enforce closures with no financial assistance from government to offset the losses.
“More restaurants are closing, we are still gathering reports but close to 350 000 people have been placed on permanent lay-off. This is devastating,” she said.
For Kelly Kaimowitz, starting the Push the Produce initiative on Facebook to help restaurants offload supplies they had purchased ahead of lockdown, was a means of assisting owners recoup some money.
“I initially got the idea from a lady called Nicole Kuhnert and pushed the idea into fruition and within two hours we already had over 1 000 people on the platform, so far the response from the public has been unbelievable.
“We appeal to restaurants and suppliers to get in touch with us and tell us what supplies they have on hand and want to sell off and we link them to customers who buy them directly from them.
“Basically, what we are trying to do is help restaurants keep the lights on, and assist their workers by recouping monies they spent on supplies they might not be able to use during this latest round of restrictions. This gives them a lifeline to at least have something on hand.
“This is specifically for your small businesses that depend heavily on walk-ins. While there are some that are trading and working within the lines of deliveries and collections, others simply just closed. We’re hearing sad stories from some who simply couldn’t go on and decided to close down for good,” Kaimowitz said.
For the co-owners of Estratweni Mobile Foods this was an opportunity to resurrect their mobile food business.
Siphumeza Ramncwana and Siphamandla Mavumengwane started the mobile business in 2016, selling muffins on the street with a start-up capital of just R200. The business had grown in strength over the years, employing 15 people and expanding into two locations in Philippi and Gugulethu.
“Both myself and partner don’t have Grade 12, so we knew that hustling was the way for us to make it a success and knew that there were other hustlers in the township looking for a chance, because they maybe didn’t finish school or had a criminal record holding them back,” said co-owner Siphumeze Ramcwana.
“The beginning of 2020 was great for us and by the time lockdown arrived we started doing deliveries. But as regulations eased we stopped operating. By then we were doing a lot of online sales, but it was not sustainable once restaurants returned.
“We tried to open again in December, but had to close yet again. This time we are back and we have re-branded and are going to build on this momentum and sustain our business doing only an online service for our customers,” Ramcwana said.
Langa business man Colin Mkosi’s bicycle delivery service - Cloudy Deliveries - continues to grow and expand despite lockdown restrictions.
This week Mkosi won the City of Cape Town’s YouthStartCT Entrepreneurial Challenge for his business. The 24-year-old operates a delivery service in Langa with 15 workers delivering anything from takeaways to shopping goods for customers who get in touch and place their orders via WhatsApp.
“Winning means a lot for us because it means we can go ahead with our plans for expansion. We have been working on operating in the CBD, collaborating with a home for boys in Cape Town called Launchpad to employ another 13 people to work with us,” he said.
“Our business has grown over the past year, even when restaurants reopened. People still want food delivered, especially during the week. We are still doing deliveries for groceries and are thinking of branching out to Gugulethu as well, after we launch the CBD expansion,” Mkosi said.