Thabo Bekwa grew up being inspired by his grandmother’s cooking. Now he is the owner and head chef of his own food stall in Stellenbosch Central, Indalo.
Thabo Bekwa grew up in East London, in the Eastern Cape with his grandmother. Things weren’t always easy at home with his grandmother not always having a stable job. “Sometimes [I would] sleep without having nice food, or even any food,” says Thabo.
Yet one thing that always stood out for Thabo was his grandmother’s ability to create amazing meals from very little, such as her “crispy” potato chips, which he is still struggling to replicate to this day, he says. “She was making simple ingredients special.”
Thabo Bekwa preparing a salad for a customer who ordered from his food stall, Indalo Street Food. Thabo was inspired by his grandmother’s cooking as a child when growing up in the Eastern Cape, he says. PHOTO: Joseph Bracken
It was from his grandmother that Thabo started learning how to cook, but it was not until an opportunity arose after leaving home that he realised that he wanted to be a chef, says Thabo.
Starting out strong
Thabo’s cooking career started 15 years ago, when he first moved to the Western Cape, he says. “I started working in The House of JC Le Roux. They were renovating the building, so they needed new chefs.”
Thabo and the other budding chefs were sent to workshops to learn how to be competent in the kitchen. Once the training was finished Thabo was made the sous chef of the estate’s restaurant, he says.
Thabo Bekwa, owner of Indalo Street Food, dishing up a portion of chips for a customer. Thabo learnt how to cook after moving to the Western Cape and being placed in cooking workshops by The House of JC Le Roux, he says. PHOTO: Joseph Bracken
The work was very challenging, and the menu changed every week, but he learnt a lot in that period of time, says Thabo.
After working at JC Le Roux for 5 years, Thabo then went on to work at the Webersburg Wine Estate, he says. “I was the sous chef at both places.”
One of the biggest takeaways that Thabo got from working as a sous chef was professionalism in the kitchen, he says. “I can now handle this small space [in his own business] in a professional way.”
A ‘tough decision’
Whilst working as a chef at the wine estate, Thabo made a promise to himself that he would not be working for anyone by his 35th birthday. He wanted to leave his job and finally pursue his dream of starting his own business, he says.
This led him to the tough decision of deciding to ask his boss at Webersburg to retrench him in 2021, says Thabo. “[My boss] couldn’t say no, he said ‘I’ll retrench you because I know that you’re going to go far’.”
He was very scared to go out and start his own business, says Thabo. “It was tough at the beginning, but the best thing to do to achieve the dream is to start the dream.”
Planting roots
Thabo started his business venture with R250 in his pocket the same year that he was retrenched, he says. After a short while Thabo was able to buy a food truck and sell food to Kayamandi residents with the help of his wife Phelisa, who was also working as a hairdresser at the time.
Around this time one of Phelisa’s hairdressing clients told her about the CoCreate Hub in Stellenbosch where small businesses were being given a possible chance to operate, says Phelisa. “We both applied and got in.”
Thabo Bekwa making one of his street food style meals for one of his customers. Thabo started his food stall Indalo Street Food in 2021 after requesting he be retrenched from his previous job so that he could pursue his dream, he says. PHOTO: Joseph Bracken
Thabo opened his food stall in the CoCreate Hub in 2021 and decided to name it Indalo Street Food after his daughter. “I asked both my children what I should call it and the older one [Sande] said ‘you should name it Indalo’ because he didn’t know if this thing was going to work,” Thabo says whilst laughing.
“His business boomed when he started. He didn’t struggle like my business,” says Phelisa, whose salon had also recently opened in the CoCreate Hub. Phelisa would go out to help her husband when her hairdresser was quiet, as he couldn’t afford to hire any additional help at the time, she says.
As business continued to go well Thabo was able to branch out into larger business ventures such as catering for weddings, he says.
Thabo and Phelisa’s Entrepreneurial spirits are something that drew them together, says Phelisa. “Our dream is [that] we can also do weddings because he can do the catering and I can do the beauty side.”
Small steps forward
Following the success of his business, Thabo was recently able to bring out his food truck again for the 2023 Woordfees, he says. This proved to be a success, which helped the municipality to offer him a permanent space for his truck in Central Stellenbosch.
They applied in January of this year and were excited to hear that the application had finally been accepted this month, says Phelisa. “The truck was sitting at our home in Kayamandi, and we’re happy that it’s now going to be used.”
Thabo Bekwa manning the fryer in his food stall Indalo Street Food. Thabo will soon be expanding the Indalo Street Market brand with a new permanent position for his food truck in Central Stellenbosch. PHOTO: Joseph Bracken
This is all a part of a larger plan to keep growing the business, says Thabo. “[The growth] of this business will work, and it’s only going to work for me, it’s going to work for my family.”
To grow your business, you need to think like a franchiser, says Mhlengi Ngcobo, Entrepreneur and colleague of Thabo. “You need to think ‘If I did this 1000 times, would it still [generate interest]?’ and from what I’ve seen, Thabo is moving in this direction.”
Thabo is someone who always wants to learn, says Mhlengi. “He’s self-taught, and that is what makes him stand out.”
Keeping cool
Thabo is someone who likes to have fun, but he’s also someone who can be strict in the kitchen when it’s needed, says Phelisa. “He likes sharing his cooking information and chooses to teach it to the people he works with.”
Thabo’s very chilled in the kitchen and he never loses his cool, says Marcia Page, an employee of Thabo’s at Indalo. He’s a good mentor, and he’s very patient when teaching, she adds.
Marcia only joined Indalo a month ago, but she says she has learnt a lot from Thabo since becoming his employee. “I didn’t know about making food when I got here, but I think I can do a few things on my own now.”
Thabo Bekwa (left) with his employee Maricia Page (right) working in the Indalo Street Food stall kitchen. Maricia started working for Thabo a month ago and has learn’t new skills in the kitchen during her time with him, says Maricia. PHOTO: Joseph Bracken
Making a mark
When you decide to open your own business, you must have your own style. Thabo’s style is street food, it’s what he does best and it’s what keeps his customers coming back, he says.
He’s glad that he can share his unique style of cooking with the Stellenbosch community, says Thabo. “When starting a business, it’s important to do what you know. For me it’s my cooking; cooking is me, cooking is my life.”