"I learnt new ways of running my business after I had to close, due to the lockdown," said Nesidoni Fhatuwani, an informal trader operating in the Louis Trichardt area.
Fhatuwani has been running a food stand, popularly known as Piglicious Corner, at the Shoprite marketplace in town for many years and is famous for his special pork-braai and pap.
However, as the country went into lockdown, Fhatuwani, like many others, struggled to put food on the table. "It was really a challenge during alert levels 5 and 4. I needed money to feed my family, for electricity and to pay rent. I prepared some food at home and had to wait for calls. When I did receive orders, I had to deliver it to customers. But the money was not enough to keep me going," he said.
As everyone eased into level 3, Fhatuwani resumed his business from his food stand but faced challenges. "Many people were not yet allowed to leave their homes unnecessarily, so at that time I only served very few customers. But this taught me new methods of doing business," said Fhatuwani.
From alert level 3 his deliveries slowly started to pick up and this, he said, has helped him retain most of his customers. "I was fortunate enough that most of my customers had my contact number. They called for food deliveries and this was easy for me to do, since Louis Trichardt is a small town."
Fhatuwani is pleased that business is picking up more and more each day, as all his customers are gradually returning to his food stand.
When Limpopo Mirror visited him two weeks ago, quite a few customers were waiting to be served at Piglicious Corner.