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Issue 09
WINTER 2020
H O S P I TA L I T Y
The spirit of SURVIVAL Restaurants are the face of the hospitality and tourism sector, a vital cog in KZN’s economy that has been hit by the pandemic, but must survive, writes Shirley le Guern and Shelley Seid
T
he sector has been whacked by liquidations, and job losses are the order of the day. Many hospitality businesses that were trying to eke out a living in the flailing prepandemic economy at the beginning of the year, were completely knocked by three months of lockdown. But for every tale of misery in the sector, and there are countless others to counter that, there are stories of extraordinary resilience. People in the trade are immersed in a valiant fight to stay afloat, deftly re-purposing and clawing ahead to keep their businesses ticking over. There are many stories of this courage in the feature that unfolds, but perhaps the attitude is best reflected by Marcelle Roberts, the famous Durban chef who owns Cafe 1999 and Unity with her husband Sean. “I haven’t stopped since the start of lockdown. We are fighting to stay alive. I have been in the kitchen since day one and my waiters are doing deliveries. We have embraced the changes or we won’t survive.” Roberts says the fact that their businesses have kept moving has kept their spirits up and those of staff, loyal customers and suppliers. Unity is open and is also pushing deliveries through a variety of platforms. And Roberts has also thrown herself into a pre-prepared meal business with Dominic Barberi whose Seafood Enterprise did a quick pivot from supplying restaurants. “We’ve just kept pushing through … kept moving … and are getting busier every day,” Roberts told KZN INVEST. The Restaurants Association of South Africa (RASA) predicts many of the 800 000 people working in the hospitality sector (a considerable chunk in KZN) will be jobless before
the year is out. RASA member Natasha Sideris, the owner of Tasha’s chain of restaurants, was quoted in Daily Maverick saying half of South Africa’s 13 000 restaurants countrywide could close, with a huge effect on an entire supply chain from small farmers to catering supply companies.
Landlords with outstanding rentals and lost tenants will suffer, too. Some establishments – when safety protocols are as long as menus – are confident their strong branding will tide them over and have elected to remain closed. Their logic: spiralling operating costs, narrow margins, high levels of debt and low volumes, means
