Meet the couple at helm of Nguni Grill

POLOKWANE – Hannes and Penny Willemse, the co-owners and managers of Nguni Pub and Grill, have been in the restaurant business for years.

Penny started out with the Spur group after finishing school in 1986, while Hannes started at the Spur group in 1992 after finishing his human resources studies at Potchefstroom University.

They have been in the restaurant business ever since.

Hannes was the manager and later ow-ner of the San Antonio Spur in the Checkers Centre and moved on to become the owner of Falcon Rock Spur in Savannah Mall in 1997.

“From there we moved to Nguni Grill. The biggest lure was that it is not a franchise, and we have inputs in the way it is run, the menu and where we purchase our stock. These are things you do not have control of when you own a franchise,” says Hannes. “There is just more scope for one’s own creativity in owning a restaurant that is not a franchise.”

The couple complements each other in managing the restaurant: Hannes is responsible for the day-to-day running of the restaurant, general management, ordering of supplies and seeing to it that things run smoothly, while Penny is responsible for training the waitrons and front-of-the-house staff. She also is responsible for the menu and training of the kitchen staff.

Running a restaurant requires long hours, but the couple has learnt to work around it.

“When Penny is busy at the restaurant, I would take our son to cricket or wherever he should be.

“I might go in at eight, stay until 13:00 and then go home to drive our son around and be back at the restaurant at around 18:00, when it becomes busy again.

“I stay there until a 22:00 and then go home,” Hannes says. The couple has two children: a daughter who is a student teacher studying through Unisa and a son who is still in high school.

Penny’s days are a little less formal and she takes each day as it comes, depending on what is on the programme. “I may work from 09:00 to around 18:00 and go home, or sometimes have to stay until around 22:00,” she says.

“The difficult part is to manage time together as a family,” Hannes says. “And one cannot just decide to go away for a weekend. We do try to get away as a family during the December holidays, though. We love going to Hartenbos. There is a lot of activities and it makes for a good family holiday.”

As a rule, the family does not eat out when on holiday. “We mostly braai or eat take-aways. Hannes is way too critical of other restaurants’ food,” says Penny.

Penny says Hannes’ best attribute is patience. “He gets along with people excellently.”

Hannes has a healthy respect for Penny’s flair with food and development of menus and recipes.”

She likes to try new things. She enjoys preparing different desserts and she is good with handling clients.”

As a family restaurant, they are also involved in a lot of community projects and sponsor road races for athletics clubs.

“The Nguni Braai King competition on National Braai Day is a favourite. We also have days where schools and sports teams shadow the waiters and get the tips and commission on the turnaround. One school made R12 000 to boost their school’s sport fund during such an evening.”

Not being a franchise also give the couple an opportunity to be creative by arranging themed evenings where seafood, for instance is served, and also in planning children’s or adult birthday parties or year-end functions.

They both agree that the restaurant business is a tough business, the food should be of excellent quality and well prepared at all times. “There are a lot of restaurants in the city and the competition is fierce,” says Hannes.

The new Nguni menu with additions from the Braai King competition kicks in this month, and should you crave cranberry chicken, go visit the Willemse team at Nguni Grill for a tasty meal.