Scooping success
WHEN Penny Fitchet, pictured, opened her bespoke ice cream shop, Era, in Durban’s Cowie Park Centre people apparently warned the former teacher that her business was doomed to failure.
“There was a book store here before us and I think a toy store before that. People would come in and tell us that this corner was ‘doomed’ and didn’t we know that nothing had survived here.”
The naysayers, however, could not have been more wrong. With two years of hugely successful trading under her belt, Fitchet and her team are now looking for bigger premises to make their hand-mixed ice creams and fresh, madeon-the-spot lunch snacks.
“We are really famous for our Smudgies (in between a brownie and fudge). Our toasties are delicious. Many of the people who work in the offices pop in for our lunch menu. Our prices are reasonable and everything is fresh. I would like to open one or two more stores as well, but not franchises. I am a control freak,” she laughed.
The shop also supplies restaurants all over the city with fresh ice cream.
Oozing creative talent and entrepreneurial flair, Fitchet who was an English and history teacher in her “previous life”, started Era – which is across the road from Woolworths and Kaphine Korner in Problem Mkhize (Cowey) Road – after she participated in South Africa’s 2014 MasterChef. “I was selling home-made ice cream at markets for extra income. I have always loved food. Being on the show – I came seventh – really gave me confidence to leave teaching and open my own store,” she said.
And, in keeping with her qualification as a history teacher, all the ice creams are named for figures of the past, such as Marie Antoinette’s Apple and Cinnamon or Julius Caesar’s Salted Caramel. “That’s our top seller,” she said.
While Fitchet was not sure whether being an entrepreneur was in her DNA, she was adamant she would never go back to working for someone else.
“Yes, I do panic sometimes. But when things are going well you get a buzz, a rush. It’s so satisfying. When business is slow you can’t just sit around and wait for something to happen. I offer cooking lessons for adults and children.
“We cater for small functions as well,” she said.
Each day, and often into the night or the early hours of the morning, Fitchet and her assistant, Marinette Pretorius, hand-mix up to 35 litres of ice cream which are sold out by closing time at 5pm.
Fitchet’s advice for those setting up their own business was to stick to the vision, keep a tight budget and plough profits back into the operation.
“I am fortunate as my husband is a teacher, so he gets a regular income. But, we started small. Social media has really worked as a marketing tool,” she said. Paperwork was a challenge, however. “I never realised it would take so long to get a business licence – it took three months. I really stressed about that because I had already opened, but I didn’t have a licence. My advice is to get a business licence first before opening up,” she said.