This Mandela day, it’s easier than ever before to get involved and do something good for your community. In fact, this year, all you have to do is support a few local restaurants. Now, that’s deliciously simple.
It’s undeniable that the restaurant industry has suffered dramatically at the hands of the COVID-19 pandemic. For almost two years, chefs, waitrons, and all those involved in running our beloved local eateries have been subjected to closure, restrictions and everything in between.
So, we at Cape {town} Etc are here to remind the restaurant industry that we really do care, and want to help in any way possible. But we can’t do it alone. We need you, our beloved readers, to get out there with us and eat our restaurants back into business.
Stuck on where to start? Visit the restaurant tab on our website for all the options you could ever hope for.
Here are a few ways you can help the Mother City’s restaurant industry get back and booming in business.
1. Share the word about our #HighburyHearsYou initiative.
Cape {town} Etc falls under the roof of Highbury Media, our incredible home base that has afforded us the opportunity to use our platform in the most Mandela way possible. Through our #HighburyHearsYou initiative, restaurants will be able to get their establishments advertised for free, right here with us.
If you are apart of a foodie business, please do not hesitate to send your menus and information to [email protected] so that we can get your name out there as soon as possible. Readers, we call on you to share our campaign far and wide so that we can help as many eateries as possible. Better yet – send us your favourite establishments and a few reasons why you love them so that we can get the good vibes rolling.
Here’s a bit more on our #HighburyHearsYou campaign.
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2. Download the South African-made FOMO APP.
This South African App shows you where restaurant specials, events and activities are taking place based on your location. The FOMO App is giving back to the restaurant industry by stopping all payments for existing paying clients while offering free listings for specials and take-away menus for any restaurant currently open during this period.
All restaurants are encouraged to contact the FOMO App to list their specials or take-away menus on the app for free.
- WhatsApp: 073 673 9974
- Or visit their website at: www.fomosa.co.za.
3. Make use of the #PayMyBills restaurant relief initiative.
#PayMyBills is a dedicated restaurant relief initiative established by the Quinton Van Der Burgh Foundation that aims to assist South African restaurants by providing much-needed funding.
“We’re passionate about helping and we want to help you! Write into us to share your story. No matter how big or small your financial burden is, we want to know and in that, understand so that we can find a way to help you.”
To apply for assistance, applicants must be registered restaurant owners with staff that have been affected with little to no income. Application forms can be completed online and are currently open.
4. Find RebuildSA on Facebook to contribute to your community.
No one could have anticipated the rotten cherry-on-top that has been the violent riots and looting plaguing the country. The devastation that has come with such destructive acts have seen restaurants further subjected to setbacks. Many establishments have been completely trashed.
To restore the devastation, ReBuildSA, a volunteer group on Facebook has created a platform where locals can find out more information about how to donate and assist individuals and businesses that have been impacted.
5. Help Ladles of Love break a world record, with Jack Black.
In Celebration of Mandela Day, Cape Town-based charity Ladles of Love are set on breaking the Guinness World Record for the longest line of food cans. The current Canadian-held record is 3.28km for 44 966 cans. Ladles of Love has their heart set on 6.7 kilometres. All locals are encouraged to donate 67 minutes of their time to help this organisation smash the world record.
To take action against hunger, people can volunteer their 67 minutes by:
- Helping to build the 6.7km line of food cans. R125 buys you a 67-minute slot to participate.
- Donating 400-450g tins of non-perishable food at the Ladles of Love depots.
- Buying five 400-450g Denny Soup cans for R100 via Webtickets (Pay R50 for 5x cans to go into the line and R50 donation to the organisation).
To participate, volunteers are asked to contribute a donation to Ladles of Love via Webtickets.
Linked to Ladles of Love is Cape Town-based craft brewery, Jack Black Brewing Co.
They have launched an initiative to raise funds for its staff and support non-profit organisation Ladles of Love.
Here’s how it works:
Locals can purchase a R250 taproom voucher and help support the businesses staff. For each voucher purchased, the buyer will go into a draw to win beer for a year – free beer? Now that’s a reason to give back something if there ever was one.
If you pre-order beer online, Jack Black will donate a week’s worth of meals to feed someone in need to Ladles of Love for every case of beer ordered.
6. Create a menu with The Restaurant App.
The new normal has become takeaway deliveries, a great option for hungry patrons, but not so much for restaurants hoping to make a profit during the pandemic.
Popular food delivery apps are notorious for taking a huge cut from restaurants, with many establishments beseeching customers to order directly from them instead.
However, restaurants may have a new knight in shining armour in the form of The Restaurant App. Not only is this ingenious app free to download, but it allows businesses to market directly to their customers with a simple click to popular social media sites.
Here’s how it works:
- For collection orders, notifications are sent to both parties via in-app notifications, SMS and email. These are charged at 5% plus vat of the turnover value (the total food order cost).
- For delivery orders, restaurants can accept orders which notifies a delivery driver via the Drivers App. These types of orders are charged at 5% plus vat of the turnover value, plus R2 and vat for the delivery.
- Customers are charged 3% to cover transaction fees.
- A driver solution is offered to restaurants with E-bikes and drivers available for R3600 plus vat per month.
- Despite the customer paying a delivery fee of R25+, the restaurants and customers will still receive and accept the order at a lower price than regular food delivery apps.
If you’d love to learn more about this intuitive app, make sure you visit their website for more information: www.about.therestaurantapp.co.za
Remember to send your menus and information to [email protected] so that we can get your name out there as soon as possible. We’re here to help in any way that we can. Let’s make it happen!
#HighburyHearsYou
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Picture: Unsplash