Home and hearty – lockdown creates new niche for caterers

Offering weekly menus, baked goods, Shabbat meals, and yom tov specialties, home-based cooks aren’t just sustaining the community through their delicious meals, they’re also building viable businesses in the comfort and safety of their own homes.

Retrenched just one week before her wedding, Jodi Witz Bedil embraced the chance to start a new chapter – personally and professionally. “For years, I wanted to start my own cooking business, but I didn’t have the guts to take the plunge,” she says. “Losing my sales management job after four years was a major wake-up call to follow my passion.”

In May this year, Witz Bedil officially launched her Joburg-based business, Cooked by Jodi. “There has been an increase in demand for home-cooked meals as more people go out less during the COVID-19 pandemic,” she says. “It allows them to have the feeling of eating a good meal that they don’t have to get at a restaurant or prepare themselves.” While COVID-19 has played a part in her immediate success, Witz Bedil says the timing was simply right.

Witz Bedil, in fact, trained as a chef. Her culinary flair was passed down from her mother and late grandmother, both outstanding cooks. “Now, I’m cooking from the heart and bringing my family’s recipes to your table,” she says.

Cooked by Jodi offers weekly and seasonal menus with different Shabbat offerings and a specialised Rosh Hashanah menu. “I do this to keep things fresh, to create a diverse and exciting offering. The support of this community is incredible. Word of mouth has definitely helped, and something new is always attractive.”

While she’s not kosher, Witz Bedil cooks with kosher meat on request. She’s considered kashrut as a way to bring in more business, but it isn’t on the cards at the moment. “I believe that delicious Jewish food can be enjoyed even though it’s not kosher,” she says.

For now, she’s nourishing the space that she’s carved out for herself. Female empowerment is also a long-term focus. “I’d like to be able to grow this business enough so that I can employ and teach the underprivileged, those who cannot enter the regular job market or who are struggling with employment. I believe that by teaching a skill set, one can help make a difference.”

Cape Town-based caterer Barbara Saacks has similar goals. Having been in the cooking business for almost 40 years, Saacks is known for her delicious brochas and functions at various shuls. Though she caters for the school and shul at Chabad of the West Coast, lockdown offered her the chance to tackle an unfulfilled ambition.

“I always dreamed that I could use my skills in the kitchen as a way to start my own business,” she says. “While schools were closed during the initial lockdown, there was no better time to make this a reality. It also kept me busy when we were stuck at home. Knowing the multitude of households out there who were also struggling during lockdown, I felt it was an opportune time to take the pressure off preparing meals.”

A committed vegetarian, Saacks has capitalised on the growing demand for kosher, fresh, and healthy meals, which aren’t always accessible or affordable in supermarkets. “My cooking provides a variety of options in the vegan and vegetarian space,” she says. “I’m always experimenting with new recipes and ingredients. It’s a niche market that’s fortunately become more prevalent in the Western Cape as people become increasingly health conscious.”

In establishing this niche, Saacks has also been able to appeal to a broader clientele. “The marketing is done by my daughter, and we post on various social-media platforms to Jewish and non-Jewish groups. I have clients across the board.”

However, being an integral part of Cape Town’s shul catering space is an undeniable advantage. “People know me from the shuls and around Cape Town, so I owe a lot of my success to this,” says Saacks. “Many orders come via word of mouth. It’s been very successful, in fact far more than I thought it would be at this point.”

What began as a lockdown project now has the potential to be something more. Saacks sees herself possibly moving her business to a more industrial kitchen, creating employment, and training staff to run daytime operations.

Though her food is kosher, pursuing Beth Din certification isn’t a prospect. “One has to have a completely separate kitchen, new equipment, and a full-time mashgiach,” says Saacks. “Because I work during the day, the primary hours of Barbara Saacks Catering must be during the evening. I can do this only at home, which was one of the main reasons why I decided not to go the Beth Din route.”

Yet, providing a unique offering on a smaller scale sets her apart from other caterers in the community. “There are a few Beth Din caterers in Cape Town, but most specialise in meat products. Because I specialise in vegan and vegetarian foods, people call me.”

For Bev Cohen, lockdown also provided an opportunity to enter the home-catering space. An active member of the Union of Jewish Women, Cohen’s passion project was Silver Lining, a programme for those suffering from Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other conditions.

“When we went into lockdown last year and I couldn’t do this work, I realised that I had to do something,” she recalls. Her kids suggested she turn her love of cooking into a business, and DC Gourmet was born. “Lockdown is absolutely conducive to running this kind of business. It kept me at home, and gave me something to do. I do a limited weekly menu, and I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Initially there was an influx of COVID-19-related orders. “I just dropped them off at the front door,” says Cohen. “A lot of people came back and asked me to pass that service onto someone else.” She feels that there’s continued demand for businesses like hers because people are bored with their own food, tired of slaving away in the kitchen, or simply hate cooking.

“When you’re in your house all the time, it can get a little monotonous,” she says. “It’s fantastic that so many home-cooking businesses have arisen during COVID-19. I’ve found my niche through making basic home-cooked and hearty meals, I think that’s what people want.” While the frequency of orders varies, Cohen is anticipating an upsurge as she releases her Rosh Hashanah menu.

Like many who offer this service in the community, Cohen does “kosher-style” cooking, using only kosher ingredients. She cites the expense and complications that come with running a home-based business under the Beth Din. “Very religious people certainly wouldn’t buy from me, and I respect them for that, but a lot of people are quite happy with kosher ingredients and a delicious meal.”

Cohen is deeply saddened by the closure of some established, larger-scale caterers, but doesn’t see a direct correlation between this and the upswing in home-based culinary businesses. “I don’t believe that we can take on the big functions that these caterers used to do,” she says. While functions may be smaller going forward, they’ll probably remain the domain of larger, Beth Din-licensed caterers.