Danver Windvogel is a Belgian-qualified chocolatier and the co-owner of Huguenot Fine Chocolates, a boutique chocolaterie nestled in the picturesque Franschhoek. As a coloured boy growing up in a small town during apartheid, making chocolate for a living was not something he ever imagined doing. He spoke to SMF News’ Hannah Abrahams.
Danver Windvogel is a chocolatier and the co-owner of Huguenot Fine Chocolates in Franschhoek. PHOTO: Hannah Abrahams
Most people don’t have to start preparing for Christmas in April. But when you have been running a chocolaterie for as many years as Danny Windvogel has, doing things the unconventional way, and according to an unconventional timeline, has long been your norm.
Danny walks into the café of the chocolaterie on a Sunday morning wearing his apron. He has been at their factory – a few minutes’ drive away – preparing stock to be sent out and developing the Christmas chocolate range for a client. The client? World-renowned Babylonstoren.
But securing big clients like Babylonstoren, employing 25 people, developing hundreds of chocolate truffle flavours, and running a chocolate shop in Franschhoek with its own factory and café, with chocolate tastings and workshops also on offer, certainly doesn’t happen overnight.
Small-town boy
Danny’s line of work is uncommon, which is something that is not lost on him.
But what might be even more remarkable is just how he ended up here in the first place.
Danver “Danny” Windvogel (46) was born in Worcester. However, he spent the first few years of his life in Villiersdorp, growing up in his grandparents’ house.
“My father moved to Franschhoek to be a paramedic,” he says.
His parents got married when he was five, and when he was six, Danny and his mother joined his father in Groendal, Franschhoek.
Danny is one of three children; he has a younger brother and an older sister, who passed away a few years ago. He speaks about his childhood in Groendal with fondness, particularly when talking about his sister, who was nine years his senior, and their close bond.
“She followed me everywhere I went… On Saturdays when I went to play rugby, she was beside me,” he says.
After Danny matriculated from Groendal Secondary School in 1996, he set his sights on a law degree.
“In my matric year, I applied at Stellenbosch University, and got accepted,” he says.
However, financial constraints put his plans on hold and forced him to look for a job.
“My dad said: ‘You have a very wild dream, but I don’t think that I’ll be able to afford Stellenbosch […] Maybe you can take this up in a year’s time.’ ”
Danny started looking for a job in the new year, and in February 1997, he was set to begin working at a financial research company in Villiersdorp.
The day before he was supposed to start the job, Danny went to Franschhoek to gather everything he would need to be settled in Villiersdorp. Then came the phone call that would change the course of his life.
“That afternoon, my dad phoned me and said I had to phone one of my old teachers from Groendal Secondary,” he recalls. “I phoned Mrs Hendricks. She said: ‘Before you go start a job […] you need to come back [to Franschhoek] because this is important.’ ”
She explained that he needed to be at Groendal Primary School for an interview the following day. Without being given any further details, Danny found himself back in Franschhoek by 8:00 the next morning.
A life-changing opportunity
The opportunity was for a scholarship to study abroad. It was an NGO-funded scholarship, Livos, under the leadership of Dr Jef Valkeniers, a doctor and Flemish politician, says Danny.
At the time, Valkeniers was involved with various projects in South Africa. Valkeniers told SMF News that he approached Danny’s old teacher to ask her whether she knew anyone who would be interested in studying in Belgium.
“She selected three boys and they came to Belgium for one year,” says Valkeniers.
The young men left in August 1997, and received practical training and theory classes in chocolaterie and patisserie at Belgium institutions.
They each returned with a diploma in chocolaterie.
Huguenot Fine Chocolates only uses premium chocolate imported from a Belgium manufacturer, Callebaut, to make their truffles. Various truffle flavours include champagne, milk tart, and the popular amarula. Developing flavours is where Danny Windvogel feels he is able to best express his creativity. PHOTO: Hannah Abrahams
Before leaving, Danny knew nothing about making chocolate, or food in general. But he knew he wanted to see the world.
“The reason I went through with it was to see Europe and explore. At that stage, nobody from our community knew what it was like to be in another country, another culture,” he says. “[In] Franschhoek’s community back then, you either went and studied and then you left Franschhoek, or you worked on one of the wine farms or in the restaurant industry. That’s it.”
Danny knew that this opportunity would give him the chance to do something different, and escape the box of his small town and the time they were living in.
“It was really difficult to get out of that box,” he says, mentioning that there weren’t many examples of real success stories at the time.
“The other thing was the apartheid mentality,” he says, which he believes had a way of limiting ideas of what people thought was possible.
Huguenot Fine Chocolates
Upon their return to South Africa, Danny and Denver Adonis, one of his fellow scholarship candidates, wanted to start a business venture. After struggling to run things on their own, they went into a partnership with Penny Gordon. Penny, a former journalist involved with the hospitality industry, initially held a 50% share in the company.
“Penny was the best thing that could have happened,” says Danny.
He recounts how they struggled to stay afloat before she came on board. He recalls making a single R2,50 sale one Saturday. It was a Coke that he bought himself.
“I provided the business experience; they provided the chocolate expertise,” says Penny. “It was a good partnership.”
Danny and Denver were eventually able to buy Penny’s share in 2013.
A chocolate model of the iconic Huguenot Monument in Franschhoek is kept on display at Huguenot Fine Chocolates. PHOTO: Hannah Abrahams
Faith and family
As much as Danny loves expressing his creativity through chocolate, his family and his faith is what lies closest to his heart. Danny still lives in Groendal with his wife, Galeisha, and their young daughters. He also has a son who lives in Wellington.
In March 2022, however, Danny lost his middle daughter, Danisha, to suicide.
She was 14 at the time. As a man with values deeply rooted in his faith, coming to terms with this reality is what Danny describes as “the most difficult challenge of his life”.
He speaks about Danisha with great tenderness.
“[Our] house was alive, she was the entertainment,” he says, as he tries to describe his daughter’s personality. “She was very spontaneous […] and talkative.”
Danny becomes very contemplative.
“I’ve asked God several times: Why me? Why our family? Why her? But I’ve never actually blamed Him.”
On some days, Danny seeks answers more desperately than on other days. For now, Danny is trying to make peace with not having the answers to his questions.
“I believe that one day, when He’s ready, He will let me know.”
Danny Windvogel with his late daughter, Danisha. She was 14-years-old when she passed away. PHOTO: Supplied/Danny Windvogel