Neighbourhood News Update: 03 June 2022

Makers Landing, already in its second year, continues to create a platform for food entrepreneurs to learn, share and innovate while solidifying their businesses within the food landscape.

The Waterfront, with its multitude of food offerings, made up of over 80 restaurants, food markets, and pop-up food offerings, is a vibrant marketplace that connects food entrepreneurs with the local community and the millions of visitors from across the country and aboard.  It’s a constantly evolving space that caters to eclectic tastebuds, price points and social settings, all set against the backdrop of a working harbour. The arrival of Makers Landing next to the Cape Town Cruise Terminal has provided a seat at the table for new food businesses to try out their ideas, in a setting that is supportive to the common challenges a food idea will face.

In a dramatic and testing two years during which the economy stuttered due to Covid lockdowns, Makers Landing kept its doors open, provided much needed aid to its new entrepreneurs and is proving to be the ideal testing ground for incubating for growth with its range of commercial and fit-for-production shared kitchen spaces, market pods, event spaces and a kitchen incubation programme which operates 24/7 well utilised. Currently 17 businesses call it home, trading to the general public from Thursdays to Sundays, with others using the space for food production, others for development in the incubation program and for others as simply a space to enjoy food education through food classes offered to the public. The space is also regularly rented for private events and also enjoys the exposure to cruise and commercial ships who dock and unload their crews and passengers alongside it.

“Our experiences shows us that Makers Landing makes it significantly easier and less expensive for aspiring food entrepreneurs to enter the market. The cost of a commercial kitchen space and equipment can be prohibitive, so by being a part of our community, food entrepreneurs can save on costs by renting a space at Makers Landing on an hourly or monthly basis,” says Alex Kabalin, Retail Executive Manager.

The key features of the space make it significantly easier to share and learn and grow food ideas and get to market.

Commercial Kitchen – Makers Landing Commercial Kitchen is a 600m2 shared kitchen space and includes 13 workstations, 8 prep sinks, a fully equipped scullery area, delivery and receiving entrance, specialised equipment, gas/electric facilities and cooking-smalls (available on first come basis). Walk-in cold store, dry store and freezer storage is available to rent on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.

Demo Kitchen – A blank canvas for all of your food events. The space consists of 15 workstations which each include a single plate induction hob, ovens as well as general kitchen space. Prices range from R3 500 (weekday, half-day rental) to R60 000 (monthly).

Events – Makers Landing is the perfect venue for your next big event. From kids’ birthday parties, gala dinners to speaking engagements and conversation around the topic of food and everything in between, we offer a range of tailored venues to suit all your event needs.

Food market activations are a regular feature, drawing visitors to this new part of the Waterfront, best enjoyed with views of the port harbour.

For more information and event booking applications, email Angelique Smith on angsmith@waterfront.co.za. For pricing and viewings of Makers Landing please mail Jenny Ward on jward@waterfront.co.za

With most people pencilling in a long weekend mid-June coinciding with the June 16 Youth Day public holiday, we’ve put together an activity packed program for our visitors to beat the winter blues. Key event highlights include musical performances, a basketball tournament and the UCT Online High School x Grade Africa apparel celebration which will feature popular musicians, well known content creators and more. Click here to view our events and the full Youth Day programme.

Our visitors can also look forward to the return of our Ster-Kinekor cinema which also launches on mid-June in time for the public holiday. Movie fans will experience bigger and better viewing attractions that include Prestige, Cinema Nouveau, Kids Cinema, and iMax.

May is traditionally a quieter month following the series of public holidays in April, however we’re still seeing positive visitor numbers comparing the year 2020 to date. A key highlight for May was the benefit from delegates attending the Mining Indaba at the CTICC, proving the impact of city-wide events spilling into our neighbourhood creating opportunity for tenants.

As winter takes hold, we anticipate seeing more of our visitors visit our neighbourhood to enjoy our restaurants winter specials, youth day programme, and new tenant openings.