Durban Metropolitan Area
I started my career for the exceptional Three Cities Hotel Group at their 4 Star Riverside Hotel where i was hired as the Hotel Manager and successfully ensured that the day to day running of the Hotel was kept up to its Client’s high standards. Mike Lambert and Guy Cluver, approached me to take over a project that they had been working on, opening and managing a Coffee shop called Fressh in Musgrave. I took over the project with great enthusiasm and because of its abundant success, went on to opened shops in Umhlanga and in The Pavillion Shopping Centre. I then transitioned into the Night Club industry where i worked closely with Sergio Zurini and together we opened Café Vacca Matta at Suncoast Casino. It was there that I was approached by Sun International to take on another challenge by opening a new Live Entertainment Club called Krakatoa which was based inside of Sibaya Casino. It wasn’t long after that I was approached by Jono Shepard, Gorden Jestin and Spencer Shaw and once together we aimed to bring the very well-known Franchise Hooters to South Africa. This was a huge success and I underwent extensive training with Hooters International based in Atlanta, USA for six months. I was given the opportunity to manage and run my very own Hooters Store in Feyetteville, North Carolina. This was an experiment which i had to do in order for Hooters International to release the Franchise to South Africa. I moved on to work at SMG Rocks as the Marketing Manager for the MINI COOPER brand where I arranged all events dealing with a range of different personalities and settings for Mini. I have a gift where I can adapt myself to any nature of any business and that stood me in great stead for marketing and hospitality roles. In late 2015, I conceptualized El Toro and began bringing the dream of owning my own restaurant to life, El Toro in Mackeurtan Avenue, Durban North. The business won a number of awards, including Best Mexican Restaurant in South Africa in 2016 – awarded by Mercedes Benz, an incredibly prestigious national award. El Toro was chosen by Diageo to host the Kwa-Zulu Natal round of the national Best Barman in the World Competition – the winner of which went on to compete in the national competition, with the winner of nationals going on to represent South Africa in Mexico at the international competition. I have since sold the restaurant to pursue another dream of mine which was street food trucks. I now have the “Nacho Average’ brand of food trucks with staff doing private and social events all over KZN.