If the restaurant industry has learned anything from the past two years of a pandemic, it’s that nothing is a sure thing. While no industry was left unaffected, restaurants and other hospitality establishments were often the first to be shut down when restrictions were strengthened. Throughout this time, we’ve seen restaurants cope through all manners of invention and creativity, be it meal kits for at home, online classes or switching to takeout and delivery offerings. Now, while most restaurants have gone back to their usual offerings, some have taken these pivots a step further with a foray into retail. We’re exploring a few local restaurants that have diversified once again by expanding beyond sit-in dining.

Whether or not your finger is on the food-scene pulse, you’ll know that restaurants were extremely vulnerable during the height of the pandemic. Initially, restaurants were forced to close for months due to the government restricting sit-down dining and were periodically made to do so over a two-year period. This led to all manners of temporary solutions, but none of these guaranteed the safeguarding of the business in future, which is where this crop of retail-minded spaces came from.

David Higgs, owner of Marble, Saint and Zioux in Johannesburg, is opening The Pantry near Marble and says it was fueled by lockdown. The Pantry offers a grocery section, complete with basics like toilet paper and toothpaste as well as artisanal products, such as jams, preserves and biscuits. Local wines will be available, as well as a deli-style section with products made in-house, like sandwiches, salads or grab-and-go lunches. “The idea was born during lockdown,” he says. “We had a number of ideas of things we wanted to do, but Covid really exposed us with only having restaurants – this felt like the most logical thing to move into.”

Lello’s, a Cape Town deli born out of the much-loved Scarpetta brand, follows a similar model in that it offered the restaurant an alternative way to trade. The deli is run by Chiara Turilli and her brother Danillo, along with their father, Ricky, the big boss at Scarpetta. Chiara says that Lello’s wasn’t opened as a direct response to restrictions, but was more inspired by it. “When lockdown hit, the owners of Sea Point Spar – George and Chris – wanted my dad to make his lasagna, pasta sauces and ready-made pasta for them as a way of supporting us,” she says. “It did really well and it gave us an idea that if the country went into lockdown again, we should have a backup plan.” The result is a wonderful deli offering Italian staples, fresh produce and pantry items.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Lello’s Deli by Scarpetta (@lellosdeli)

El Burro, the stalwart Mexican restaurant in Cape Town, certainly felt the same pressures as other restaurants, but their pivot wasn’t in the form of a bricks-and-mortar store. Instead, lockdown enabled them to expedite their pre-pandemic plans for take-home pantry items under the brand El Burro Mercado. “We essentially started making our own products as we weren’t happy with the quality of some of the ingredients we were using at the restaurants, and once we started making these products, it was a natural progression to develop the retail brand and bring it to market,” says co-owner Sascha Berolsky. “The idea actually began about a year-and-a-half before the pandemic hit, but it certainly helped when we were at level five and the restaurants were shut and everyone was at home cooking.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by EL Burro (@_el_burro)

While all of the above differ in some way, the running theme is that these pivots offered a more long-term solution, while still supporting the original brand.

David Higgs says the one thing they wanted to focus on with The Pantry is to bring a bit of hospitality to the retail space. “We’ll have one of the managers and chefs who opened Saint running The Pantry, because we really want to have this warm, welcoming feeling in the same way you would have at a restaurant,” says David. Chiara says that Lello’s has not only offered her family-run business a new form of support but for other small businesses affected by Covid restrictions. “Yes, we have the imported products that we love and we grew up with but the other stuff we’re trying to keep as local as possible,” she explains. “The small scale farms, the passionate people that pivoted during lockdown – we want to celebrate as many people as we can!” For Sascha, El Burro Mercado has been a great expansion to an already-successful brand. “Running a restaurant and a food brand are fairly similar in the sense that you want your customer to have a positive experience or enjoy a quality product that is good value. The difference is that if you get it right you can achieve that at a much larger scale and scope and the reception has been great so far.”

As devastating as lockdown was, there are some positive outcomes and being able to support your favourite restaurant through retail is certainly one of them. While Sascha says El Burro Mercado is going from strength to strength and expanding into more retailers across the country, neither Chiara nor David are ruling out opening more retail spaces – we’ll have to keep our eyes on them.