Food & Beverage Reporter August 2018

DISRUPTORS
You seem to have incubated the
business for some years, slowly
building momentum with direct-tohome
deliveries. Then, suddenly, you
make a big bang with an extensive,
boldly-packaged range in Dis-Chem,
your own store, in Sasol stations and a
big billboard in Sandton! How did this
jump occur? Did you take on investors?
We’ve built FitChef without investors
so far. I think it’s better to go without
investors sometimes as often money
doesn’t solve the problems. The Silicon
Valley-investment style of throwing
money at everything is a flawed model, in
most cases, and it’s a crumbling model.
Business owners need to be extremely
resourceful and there is a LOT of pain,
sleepless nights and soul searching
involved in that process.
However, a business does reach
a point where lack of funds does hold
you back because competitors often
have deeper pockets, access to bulk
purchasing buying power, expensive
automation or can afford to run at a loss
while building market share. We
are hoping to announce an investor deal
very soon.
As a side note,
I think that South
African investors
need to loosen up
a bit though – or
maybe it’s time the
government actually
gives back too. There
is a general lack of
respect and under-standing towards
entrepreneurs and how much effort
goes into building a brand, setting up the
company systems and working your way
through the J-Curve. Local investors often
can’t see that investment should be a winwin
partnership.
We worked extremely hard to build
a brand, working seven days a week and
burning the candle at both ends. So,
luckily, retailers have been approaching
us and we couldn't miss the opportunity.
We have a very large retail roll out
planned. We are grateful for the support.
And your main focus going forward?
Online sales was always going to be our
main focus, followed by retail, but it looks
like retail will overtake our online sales.
South Africa is light years behind the
international online sales and deliveries
trend. We still like malls, like to pay cash
and many are scared of using credit
cards online despite the fact that there
is no risk to the consumer. The bank just
reverses fraudulent transactions and the
seller is the one who loses out.
Taking on the frozen food giants at
their own game is no easy challenge.
How are you positioning yourself in
the market to ensure they don’t
stomp on you going forward?
We are being watched by the giants.
Some of them have approached us.
I believe we are in a unique position in the
market because of our EatClean ethos.
We are obsessed with wholefood
ingredients. We are committed to having
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