Durban’s winning bunny boys
BEING in business for over 20 years, friends Dan Moodley and Ivan Moodley thought it would be easy to run a restaurant because they shared a passion for food.
But they knew nothing about the food business and literally jumped into the deep end when they and partner Shadrack Govender opened Canecutters, in Glenwood, Durban, last year.
Fourteen months later, business is booming with the restaurant’s hottest commodity, the bunny chow, drawing long lines of customers.
And it could only get better for Canecutters after it won the Durban Coca-Cola Bunny Chow Barometer recently, edging out almost 70 other competitors, including nine finalists, for the boasting rights of being the creator of KZN’s best bunny.
“It hasn’t been an easy road and there were times when we felt like throwing in the towel, but luckily we had each other for support,” said Dan.
“One of the things I learnt very quickly in the food industry is that no matter how much you try to make sure customers are happy, you can’t please all of them.”
But it seemed that the majority of customers were happy, he added.
Dan believes customer service is a priority when it comes to running a successful business.
Canecutters sells between 200 and 300 mutton bunny chows a day, he says. These are their top seller, followed by their broad beans curry bunny.
Science
Their secret? “Food is a science. We’ve nailed it down to adjusting the right amount of spices and using perfectly-trimmed meat.”
For Dan good quality, good flavour and good service will always have customers wanting more.
“We use reduced oil in our food. We were taught this by a highly qualified chef. We are also focused on healthy food and use good spices which we source from a supplier.
“Our dishes look appealing and we always ensure the restaurant is neat and clean. It’s about passion, and we never want to short-change our customers.”
Much of their popular business branding is done on Facebook.
“We have 70 different specials which our chef rotates on a daily basis.
“For example, we may have methi and mince, or samp and mutton, or trotters and beans. It’s very popular with customers and is sold out every afternoon.”
Dan said one of the highlights of the business was having international tourists walk through their doors.
“We would like Canecutters to be known as one of the places where international tourists can come for authentic Indian food.
“Also, our customers are across the racial divide, if you look around.”
He said Cancutters had more than 25 staff.
There were no immediate plans to open up any branches.