A match made in Heaven: Coffee and cake
The Mad Batter and Stir Coffee join forces
The Mad Batter and Stir Coffee House share the same vision of bringing mouth-watering artisan edibles and coffee to the Empangeni community, and so after Stir Coffee House was looted in July 2021, a collaboration between the two businesses was born.
This match made in Heaven offers customers the delight of stepping out of the busy world, enjoying a great coffee and a light meal or treat at the tables inside The Mad Batter/Stir Express Cafe, while choosing from the mouth-watering array of cakes, cupcakes, sourdough bread, home-made biscuits etc to take home to enjoy with family and friends. Everything inside the store is made with absolute love by people who have a passion to satisfy the taste buds of our local community.
The Mad Batter is a modern take on the traditional bakery, stocking a delicious range of freshly baked cakes, tarts, loaves, gourmet cupcakes, rusks, biscuits and a variety of sweet treats for every occasion. They stock artisan bread, thanks to a partnership with The Sourdough Guy, and their shelves are packed with pickles, sauces and jams – all homemade by local bakers and makers.
Stir Coffee House is no stranger to Empangeni. They have been operating from the Econo Cartridge store below Game Empangeni for many years and are many locals’ favourite coffee shop. However, their beloved coffee shop was unfortunately not spared when looters descended on Empangeni.
‘When that alarm went off at 12:03 in the afternoon of Monday, 12 July, my heart sank into my feet. It was really hectic; knowing that people who didn’t love our store, were inside our store, and people who didn’t love our coffee shop, were inside our coffee shop.’
Yvonne van den Bergh, owner
‘When you work for all these years to build up a business, it really is soul destroying to know there is somebody in there who really doesn’t care, and is just out to get what they can. We were left with a handful of tables, three chairs, and thank goodness they left our coffee machine.’
Joining forces
This is when Stir owner Yvonne van den Bergh and The Mad Batter owner Kelly Pelster decided to join forces.
‘Kelly was happy to accommodate us, and on 30 July we were able to start up the coffee machine and serve our first coffees. We were really blown away with the support of Empangeni . This was the official birth of Stir Express Café.’ Yvonne van den Bergh, owner
‘We love the idea of connecting Empangeni folk with good coffee, and we intend to do that for a really long time to come. We have been able to continue doing this because of the community’s support and because Kelly and The Mad Batter were so accommodating and welcoming, willing to allow us the opportunity to keep going.
‘Without the assistance of many Empangeni Community Members, willing to loan everything from fridges to chairs, donating other items, we would also not have been able to do this.’
‘We hope this collaboration between Stir and The Mad Batter inspires others to do something similar because business is hard and let’s rather just band together and help each other.’
Please pop in!
If you are wanting an artisanal experience, please support The Mad Batter and Stir Express cafe. They are situated at Shop B2 Wyett’s Centre (below Steers and next to Soweto Jive), 108 Old Main Road, Empangeni.
Having a birthday? Pop into the store, enter their competition in the month of your birthday and stand a chance to win a voucher for a Cake and Coffee for two.
Stir Express Café will be serving a Heritage Menu from 23 September till 30 September 2021. Catch their social media pages for more details.
For more information, follow them on Instagram:
