Mom turns illegal shebeen into licensed pizza eatery offering 'House Arrest' burgers

An unemployed mother who lost her job during the Covid-19 pandemic has turned an illegal township shebeen into a bustling pizza joint — with a menu offering “Lockdown” and “House Arrest” burgers.

Lungiswa Bonda lost her job at a top Cape Town hotel during lockdown, and began operating an unlicensed shebeen in Khayelitsha to make ends meet. However, things took a surprising turn after she agreed to take part in a business development programme aimed at reducing the number of illegal liquor outlets — estimated to number about 50,000 countrywide — by providing a more profitable alternative. 

Bonda’s pizzeria is now a neighbourhood treasure, with a traditional pizza oven, deep fryers, deep freeze, free Wi-Fi and a hand-held point-of-sale device that automatically tracks revenue and stock. There’s also motorcycle deliveries for those ordering via a mobile phone app called Order Kasi.

Bonda has roped in her son, James Bonda, who lost his job in 2019 and now operates the pizza oven. 

“Lockdown didn’t break us,” James said of the family joint venture, called Lavay’s Good Food (a township take on the Afrikaans word for noise, lawaai).

Lavay’s is one of 10 outlets to make the journey from being illegal liquor outlets to fully registered businesses thanks to the programme led by Supply Pal, development partner of beverage company Distell. It follows a survey of township businesses which identified 532 Khayelitsha liquor traders, of which 151 were licensed. Distell’s formalisation programme aims to empower informal liquor traders to become legally compliant.

“We are committed to empowering our communities to thrive, growing employment and helping to address some of the deep socioeconomic challenges in our country. Being a registered business opens up access to credit and many other benefits that an illegal outlet doesn’t enjoy,” said head of the responsible alcohol programme Clarence Sibiya.

“This leads to a 160% increase in revenue on average and the creation of a potential three additional jobs per outlet,” Sibiya said.

“If you multiply that by 50,000 outlets that have no licence, it’s clear there is great employment creation potential as well as growth opportunities in township economies that can stimulate further localised development.”

Supply Pal director Andre Titus said along with equipment, training and investment in infrastructure supported by Distell, specialists would help with registration and certification, building plans and approvals required to be fully legally compliant.

“We’ve gained some fantastic learning from this process which will help us to expand this project from here and ensure the outlets in the programme become sustainable businesses for the long term,” Titus said.

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