There is a new pizza delivery guy in town; move over, Debonairs. Customers are raving about the amazing homemade pizzas that Themba Limekhaya, of the Vaal township in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg, is serving from his shack.
In an effort to get out of poverty, Limekhaya started operating Mkhukhu Pizza from his shack. In April 2022, 34% of respondents in South Africa reported being concerned about poverty and social inequality in the nation, according to monthly surveys taken in 2021 and 2022.
“I have always had a passion for pizzas. I was excited and wanted to know how to make them,” he says. “With that in mind, I realized people who are just like us in the townships make them. It’s just that we do not know how. We do not know what equipment to use to make pizzas”.
Limekhaya launched Mkhukhu Pizza in December. When two young boys in his street tried the pizza and posted their experiences on Facebook, the news quickly spread around the township. Now people drive all the way from Midrand, Centurion, and Vanderbijlpark to eat dinner there.
at first, they could not understand how someone could serve pizzas out of a shack says Limekhaya. “They were amazed because they never thought that a person from a township could come up with the idea to make pizza in a shack,” he says.
The demand for his pizzas is soaring in the present day. “Some people want to have a share in the business. Others want me to sell the ready-made ingredients so they can make their own [at home]. Some have their own [pizza] places and want me to do a franchise like that. That is what is happening at the moment,” says Limekhaya.
Russian, chicken and mayo, bacon, and mince are among his four distinct pizza topping options. His pricing is fair from an economic standpoint. He charges R20 for a small Pizza when established restaurants often charge R50. Customers often pay about R100 for a large pizza, which he sells for R55.
“Actually, some customers say that the price is low, so I need to increase it. But my mentor Peter van Wyk says I shouldn’t. He says we should give it some time so that people get used to our pizzas,” he says.
He receives 10 to 15 orders on a good day, but when it rains, business suffers. This is due to the area’s tendency to get muddy and challenging to maneuver through.
Limekhaya says his previous clients initially needed to adjust to the fact that he had shifted to a pizza business. He co-owned a film and photography mal business with a friend from 2003 until last year. Their company used to organize events like birthday celebrations and weddings.
He learned how to bake pizza from one of his photographic clients. Limekhaya claims that after practicing his new skill, he subsequently picked up and visited family members in Siyabuswa, Mpumalanga to test his recently learned skill. “People at home were used to me doing photography, so I did not want to confuse them. But in Siyabuswa, they did not know much about what I was doing before.”
At a program for youth development, his longtime mentor, Van Wyk, who was at the time a provincial coordinator, saw his potential. Last year, he contacted Limekhaya in Siyabuswa, and they spoke about his goals. He then provided Limekhaya with a three-plate stove with an oven and purchased the supplies for his pizzeria.
The pizza shop is officially registered under Limekhaya’s name, and he intends to look for franchise opportunities.
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Source of News:Mkhukhu Pizza taking orders from a shack
