Hombaze African Cuisine, the foremost African restaurant group in South Africa, is set to open an outlet in Sandton City, one of the largest retail complexes on the African continent in June.
“It is will be the first time authentic African cuisine will the served in Africa’s richest square mile and a half mall” said Kenn Ayere, the founder of the Hombaze Group.
Located in the Legacy Corner section of the Complex, Hombaze African Cuisine, which was established in 2003 has been in the forefront of promoting traditional African meals in South Africa.
Ayere, a former Bureau Chief of the News Agency of Nigeria NAN in Southern Africa, expressed delight at the development as Sandton City is the busiest mall in the country and a tourist attraction to visitors.
“There’s hardly any tourist visiting Johannesburg who wouldn’t visit Mandela square, where the towering statue of global icon Nelson Mandela is located. The precinct also hosts the top-ranking hotels in the country,” Ayere said.
According to him, Hombaze was set up in 2003 to promote traditional African cuisines and to provide Africans and tourists local delicacies in upmarket environments.
Chinese, French, Italians, Portuguese, Greeks and others have exported their meals to virtually all parts of the world. Why should African meals be found mostly in run down parts of town, indecent places and served in unhygienic environments, Ayere asked.
Since its inception in 2003, Hombaze has hosted top government functionaries, Royals and celebrities from across the world and is rated one of the top 10 African restaurants in South Africa.
“We remain the only African restaurant that serves meals from the different regions on the African continent. Our clientele base is quite broad and varied. We serve a broad variety of Nigerian dishes and people from diverse backgrounds have developed a great liking for meals like Egusi, Dodo and Jollof rice” said the journalist turned entrepreneur.
While commending the Legacy management, Ayere said being granted a retail space in the prestigious complex, confirms the acceptability of the brand in the country, explaining that Africa has the best meals compared to the offerings from other continents.
He appealed to the Nigerian government to ease the exportation of raw food items to South Africa, to meet the needs of the increasing population of Nigerians in the country and assist African food chains succeed in business.
Hombaze African Cuisine had been honoured by the Nigerian Tourism Development Commission under Otunba Gbenga Runsewe for promoting Nigerian cuisine in the diaspora as well as the South African government for being an entity owned by a foreign national, that is contributing to national development, among others.
Since its inception 15 years ago, Hombaze has established outlets in parts of Johannesburg and the capital city Pretoria. The mall was established in 1973 and has over 300 stores and services.