Slice Pizzeria defies odds

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WHILE an increasing number of businesses are listed in critical condition with several others facing liquidation or imminent closure, an enterprising young entrepreneur has shrugged off the prevailing harsh economic climate characterised by the prevailing liquidity crunch to set up a striving pizza outlet.

WHILE an increasing number of businesses are listed in critical condition with several others facing liquidation or imminent closure, an enterprising young entrepreneur has shrugged off the prevailing harsh economic climate characterised by the prevailing liquidity crunch to set up a striving pizza outlet.

MTHANDAZO NYONI OWN CORRESPONDENT

Slice Pizzeria, situated at the corner of Fife Street and 12th Avenue opened shop last year in October and appears to be growing by the day as locals flock to taste its firewood-baked pizza and other products.

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Southern Eye (SE) Business caught up with the owner of Slice Pizzeria, Xolani Dube (XD), who returned from South Africa last year together with his wife, Nomagugu, to set up shop in Bulawayo, a city viewed by critics as a dying city. Below are excerpts:

SE: How did you start your business in the face of the harsh economic climate? XD: The dream to start my own business actually started when I was working for a company called Collcacchlo Pizzeria in South Africa.

I got inspired about the way owners of the company were running it. Fortunately, I was working with my wife there, so we thought of saving money to start our own business. It was a vision that one day we would start our own business.

We returned to Zimbabwe in 2013 and initially wanted to open a traditional food outlet where we would be selling isitshwala and other traditional food stuff, but we realised that the industry was over-flooded. As we had experience, we decided to go for pizza and come up with a new concept of using firewood.

SE: When did you open your restaurant and how many staff complement do you have? XD: We opened the shop last year on October 28 to be precise. At the moment we have a staff complement of 10, but we wish to double the number by far as time goes on.

SE: What services or products do you offer? XD: Other than pizzeria, we offer wraps, sharwuamas and burgers. We are the cheapest in town. We have medium and large pizza. Very soon we will start home deliveries.

SE: What is your vision and where do you see yourself in the next five years? XD: My vision is to see this business growing to a full pizzeria offering all services. By the grace of God I see myself having a big or fine dining pizzeria restaurant.

We wish to expand to other cities as well.

SE: What challenges are you facing in this industry, particularly in Bulawayo and Zimbabwe in general? XD: As a new business, people would sometimes not understand your concept especially for us, of using firewood and the fact that there are well established pizza shops in Bulawayo like Pizza Inn.

People are used to their products, but I am inviting them to come and taste something different and unique here.

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SE: How different are your products from other food outlets and how are you going to contain the competition? XD: Our products are unique in that we use firewood to produce our products. Firewood adds flavour and this is the reason why our pizza is healthy.

SE: What business opportunities are there in this industry especially for young people? XD: There are a lot of opportunities for young people in this industry. There are strategic places around town that are under-utilised. One can set up a food outlet there. The demand for food is high. The only challenge is capital.

SE: Considering the harsh economic environment in Zimbabwe, do you think it is desirable for Zimbabweans working in South Africa to come back home and invest in their country? XD: Absolutely yes. I worked in South Africa for six years and I realised that Zimbabwe has got lots of opportunities as compared to other countries. Life in South Africa is all about working and working and you can work for the rest of your life, but benefit nothing.

People just work to put food on the table. Our brothers and sisters should come back home and start their own business in Zimbabwe. It is indeed worth it.

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