Deli Diva’s needed challenges to grow
It was a year of growth for the team of Deli Diva's.
To create jobs locally and to empower women are the two main reasons why Joanne Blom and Martie Duvenage opened up the Deli Diva’s.
Deli Diva’s is a new, local coffee shop and a home industry based at the Rainbow Nursery in Second Avenue.
They opened their doors to the public on October 3 in 2020 and as the owners will tell you, it all started with a small thought of doing something different.
“We remember how we both had the urge to do something different with our lives, but we did not know what we wanted or needed to do. We went to a Christian women’s retreat with my daughter and that is where we got our answer to what we can do.
“The next week we drove past the nursery and thought we should stop and ask if we may run the coffee shop and home industry from there as they already had the facilities,” said Joanne.
They approached the management of the Rainbow Nursery about using the facilities to open a coffee shop, and they received the go-ahead for their plan.
In a matter of three weeks, Joanne and Martie opened Deli Diva’s.
“It was all through God’s grace,” they said.
Joanne has a background in the food and cooking industry, so she is responsible for the cooking and preparing of all the food while Martie runs the home industry and serve clients.
A year of growth
Martie and Joanne opened Deli Diva’s during the lockdown and their story is one for the books.
“With all the many challenges we faced, we made it and we grew Deli Divas,” said Martie.
They added three new members as part of the Deli Diva’s team.
“Pieter Heyneke is our first male diva and he is such a wonderful and helpful person. He bakes our best-seller cookies, and he is just always there when you need something. Shona Woest is also new, and she is a jack of all trades. She helps us with deliveries, printing and even during busy times at the coffee shop. She is a loud and proud diva.
“Evelyn Nyaya is one of our cooks and she is so talented and creative with what she does,” said Joanne and Martie.
Rapid growth
According to them, 2020 was a year full of lessons and the biggest lesson they learnt during the pandemic was that it is alright to ask for help.
Deli Diva’s grew to such an extent that they started with the Meal Club.
The Meal Club is where they cook daily meals for households.
“We were approached by the manager of Cobar Security and he asked us to be their permanent caterers. They also help us from time to time with deliveries. Then in the first week of March, the manager from Twin City Auctioneers phoned to as us if we can cater for them. We are growing at a rapid rate,” said Joanne.
Joanne also said that their business is like a glowstick which needs to be broken before it can glow.
“We needed the challenges to become strong and to built new relationships. We needed to face the challenges and we needed to make mistakes to prepare ourselves for the amazing future,” they said.
Being there for the local people
Deli Diva’s are thus providing the women and men of Alberton a platform to sell their baked and other homemade goods at the home industry.
“We normally meet up with our clients, taste some of the goods and if we are happy we will then discuss pricing. This is our way to support local businesses and to give some exposure,” they said.
“So whether you use your grandmother’s koeksister recipe or your uncle’s sauce recipe, we want to help you sell your products.”
They also serve some of the baked goods from their clients, which means the piece of cake you ordered can also be ordered from inside the home industry.
