Tidi’s Kitchen: Food from the heart

“The love I saw in people when eating my food. Whenever and wherever I cook, people just love my food.” These are the words of Mamelodi’s Tidimalo Moeletsi-Mashigo, who shares the inspiration behind starting her business, Tidi’s Kitchen, with Spot-On.

Located on Mphela Street, Mamelodi, Tidi’s Kitchen has become one of the Gauteng township’s favourite restaurants since it was launched in 2020 by Moeletsi-Mashigo. “I started cooking when I was 11. I learnt that from my grandmother – she was one of the best cooks I have ever met,” says Moeletsi-Mashigo.

PICKING HERSELF UP

Like many South Africans, Moeletsi-Mashigo lost her job due to Covid-19 and decided to go into business and do what she loves and what she’s good at – cooking. The business has grown in the last few years thanks to Moeletsi-Mashigo’s consistency and passion. Just a peak into her social media pages will show you how much customers enjoy her food. She serves a variety of dishes – not only fast foods you’d come across on any kasi corner. The Tidi’s Kitchen menu includes breakfast, a kids’ section and platters.

“They [customers] like our African cuisine, dagwood and our famous mix grill,” Moeletsi-Mashigo says.

Tidi’s Kitchen is open seven days a week and Moeletsi-Mashigo works with two employees on normal days, “But when we have events, we add six [people], depending on the event,” says the skilled cook.

Moeletsi-Mashigo doesn’t rent the space she operates in, as she works at her in-laws’ home. “Unfortunately, my husband passed away last year,” she says.

With Eskom’s load-shedding now seemingly a permanent fixture in South Africans’ lives, businesses have made peace with the blackouts. “Yey! It used to affect us a lot, but now we can work without Eskom, thanks to FREC,” Moeletsi-Mashigo tells Spot-On.

FREC, the Ford Resource and Engagement Centre, is a microbusiness development centre that assists entrepreneurs.

It has supplied Tidi’s Kitchen with a generator so that the business operates offgrid. It just needs filling up with fuel.

FINDING OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE CUSTOMERS

Most townships around Gauteng experience an exodus of people who go ‘home’ during

the December holidays. This usually leaves most townships emptier than usual, which has a ripple effect on businesses. But true to her genius as an entrepreneur who thinks on her feet, Moeletsi-Mashigo has already planned for the upcoming holidays.

“We are planning on expanding our kitchen to Senotlelo, Mpumalanga,” says the businesswoman.

“There's a pub there where we saw the opportunity. Most of our customers are from Mpumalanga and Limpopo, and the place is between the two provinces – so we thought, since they are going home for the festivities and there’s no one who serves the kind of food that we are serving, why don’t we follow them and give our people what they love?”

Tidi’s Kitchen will operate at the pub in Senotlelo for a month, from 4 December until 4 January. But Moeletsi-Mashigo confirms that the Mamelodi restaurant will carry on operating throughout the holidays.

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