Cooking Up Success:
How Asset-Backed Funding
Helped Graceland Café Diversify Her
Revenue Streams
Cooking Up Success: How Asset-Backed Funding Heled Graceland Café Diversify Her Revenue Streams
Ciki Graceland Café, V&A Waterfront, Western Cape
Background
For entrepreneur Cikizwa Galela, food is love, and her passion for cooking inspired her to return home after studying entrepreneurship at the University of America to pursue her dream. What started in her home kitchen quickly outgrew its humble beginnings as she launched CIKI GRACELAND CAFÉ in 2017 and began serving South African cuisine at the V&A Waterfront.
The Challenge
Initially, Cikizwa operated her café from home, and faced mounting challenges transporting her cooked meals from home to the V&A Waterfront Mall in her bakkie. The process was not only costly but also inefficient, limiting her ability to grow and better serve her customers. More and more customers requested a permanent setup at the mall, but without the right resources, she couldn’t meet this demand.
The Results
Partnering with Mutualism, Cikizwa secured asset-backed funding to purchase a food trailer, an innovative solution enabling her to:
- Reduce operational costs and improve efficiency.
- Establish a permanent presence at the mall making her cuisine more accessible.
- Diversify her revenue streams by catering for special events.
The Results
CIKI GRACELAND CAFÉ now thrives with two additional employees and an expanded customer base. Customers can easily enjoy Cikizwa’s meals, and she credits Mutualism for helping her dream flourish.
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