A new kitchen on wheels for local food vendor

Have you spotted Audrey’s Snack Shack yet? Better yet, have you tried some of her scrumptious meals?

Audrey Modisatsile has been selling food at the corner of Bram Fischer Drive and Republic Road for about six years. She recently received a brand new mobile kitchen from HTA School of Culinary Art.

Craig Roth from Mac Brothers Catering Equipment said they teamed up with the culinary school and built and designed the new custom kitchen. “After hearing about Audrey’s story and how dedicated she has been it really touched my heart and Mac Brothers being part of catering, we like giving back to the community. So we immediately jumped at the opportunity to help as we are the experts in designing kitchens,” said Roth.

He hoped that Modisatsile would be able to make a great living from this for her and her family and that she would be able to earn a sustainable income that would see her put her children through school. “Better yet, maybe with mentorship from myself and HTA, Audrey could start a franchise and have three or four of these on the ground.”

“I am so happy, my first kitchen was not bad, but this one is the best,” said Modisatsile.

In her years of selling food in the area, the mother of four would push her kitchen, from Blairgowrie, where she lives, to Ferndale, sometimes with her youngest on her back.

Seeing her push the kitchen every morning and afternoon, HTA staff knew they needed to make a difference. So to help her, managing director of the school, chef Stephen Billingham explained, they had her park her mobile kitchen on their premises to make her life a little easier.

Modisatsile has always loved to cook and she shows her customers this love by preparing Russian rolls, chip rolls, Kotas and magwinya (vetkoek). Her hopes are to grow her business, a vision HTA shares with her. They too hope that she could have several of these kitchens in various communities in the future.

Chef Billingham said this collaborative idea was months in the making. He said though Modisatsile’s previous kitchen served a purpose, it didn’t quite comply to good standards of food production, “This should be seen as more of a hand up than a hand down. Audrey has been catering in the area for some years and doing the best she can for her family, this kitchen is to help her build her brand,” he said.

Billingham has said they, as a school they will make sure she is selling quality food for her clientele.

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