Condensed menus, limited operating hours and staff retrenchments for restaurant business around R44

Due to the R44 road closures, surrounding restaurants have had to find ways to keep doors open.

Emile Mathys, the executive chef at Gossip Corner along the Whale Coast Route in the hamlet of Rooi Els, has had to find creative ways around the menu to attract customers.

“We have opened our doors this week with a condensed menu. We have included fresh breakfasts, light lunches, hake and chips. Our dinner menu is more personalised, and instead of a waiter explaining the menu, I, as the chef, will be coming to customers, engaging them about the menu,” he said.

Mathys said the road closure amidst the recent storms has caused personal and professional strain.

“I have to travel an hour to work due to the road closures. Our staff has significantly been affected, too. We as a business have had to retrench staff, 50% to be exact. We had 11 staff, and now we have 5,” he said.

Mathys said Gossip Corner was a convenient pit-stop for tourists, who make up a bulk of their revenue, but since the road closures, they rely on locals, who are not many.

“Neighbours are our current hope, and there are not many neighbours around. December is our busiest time, and yet again, we have a road closure around this time because even last year, we had a road closure, affecting business,” he said.

Marius Malan, owner of the Simply Coffee restaurant in the Pringle Bay and Kleinmond area, said he, too, has retrenched staff since the road closure, and competition of surrounding restaurants in a limited revenue pool has not made things any easier.

“When business is not doing well, you acquire rent backlogs, and retrenching staff becomes inevitable. I have had to cut down my staff to nine from 21. We only open on Friday and Saturday evenings. Staff are having to do two jobs in one because of the retrenchment.

“Some of my staff have complained that taxi fares have increased due to the road closures, and they have to pay more than usual. We rely on locals who are retired, living on a very tight budget, and with road closures, suppliers have to take longer routes, and this has our invoices higher due to the spiking fuel costs,” he said.

Ntobeko Mbingeleli, the spokesperson for the Department of Infrastructure in the Western Cape, said the closure of any road will have an impact on communities.

“The impact ranges from disruption in access to economic opportunities, social, education, etc. It is, therefore, always our aim to reopen roads as soon as possible to limit disruption. Safety, however, remains our main priority, and we will only reopen when we are fully confident that the road is safe for road users. In this case the impact is less as all businesses have access because the closure is between the last business on Gordon’s Bay side and the last business on the Rooi Els side,” he said.