Restaurants rely on Ubuntu as South Africa moves into level three

Since lockdown began, thousands of restaurants, bars and clubs across South Africa have found themselves forced to close. The result has been devastating for the hundreds of thousands of people employed in these spheres of business.

While various coalitions and groups of restaurants such as the Restaurant Association of South Africa and Sakeliga have begun petitioning the government and courts for wider allowances during level three, the outcome of this remains to be seen. Despite this, many businesses have found themselves taking the initiative to keep food on the table for their employees during the crisis.

Restaurants are keeping food on the table

While it’s no cure-all, various businesses have used a combination of online vouchers, crowdfunding, and other means to keep their employees afloat during this tough time, with mixed success.

Crowdfunding has taken off during the pandemic with GoGetFunding, GoFundMe and BackaBuddy coming out as favourites. Success has been mixed with some restaurants managing to raise as much as R47,000.

One of the first to make use of crowdfunding sources like these include husband and wife team, Alex and Eloise Windebank, whose quick-thinking allowed their restaurant Farro to raise R55,000 using BackaBuddy for the sole purpose of paying staff.

“I think people are funding restaurants because they want their locals and favourites to be there when they get out. They know the chefs, the staff — they want to do their part to make sure these people are not destitute,” says Windebank.

Restaurants are not alone in experiencing some success with this, with Cape Town’s Modular night club raising just over R50,000 thus far. The nighttime hotspot wrote on their GoGetFunding page that while they understand the closure of the club was necessary to curb the spread of the disease, it left more than 15 of their staff without an income.

“We hope that when all of this is over, we can dance together in the club we all call home, alongside the same staff and workers who have always worked diligently to ensure that we have a great night. Now, more than ever, we need you.”

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