By Siyabonga Kalipa 
Jul 17, 2021
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Cape Town – A lot of businesses have closed down since lockdown but a new restaurant in Mossel Bay has come up with an innovative and unique way to stay afloat.
Gerhard le Roux and Susan Oosthuizen opened a restaurant called Jou Mase Kombuis in March.
Le Roux said opening the business during lockdown was an overnight decision that was not planned.
“We are doing what we love, we just decided to open a business, it was not planned, we just took a chance,” he said.
He said when they started the business when the country was on Level 1, and they were hoping it was going to stay that way.
They serve breakfast, hamburgers, wraps, fish and chips and warm cooked meals for dinner.
Le Roux said lockdown levels went up after they were operational and that started to affect the business.
“When we opened during Level 1, business was better as the levels went up we started feeling the lockdown, but continued nonetheless,” he said.
He said people were not coming to sit and eat in the restaurant because of the lockdown, which meant the business was slow.
He said since they are new and lockdown levels impacted on their business, they decided to come up with an innovative way to keep the business going.
“We came up with an idea of delivering breakfast to our customers wearing pyjamas, and for those who are coming to collect their orders wearing pyjamas, to give them a discount,” said Le Roux.
He said the deliveries are what works out best for them because people are still scared of dining in restaurants because of Covid-19.
He said the idea was to do something new in order to get people to come out and enjoy themselves.
Le Roux said since their business is fairly new, they are hands on and have employed two other people.
He said when the lockdown is over and everything is back to normal, they are hoping to employ more people, and hopefully open another restaurant.
“In the meantime while we are still in lockdown, we will come up with more themes to excite our customers and attract them to come and eat in our restaurant,” added le Roux.
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