The Sunday News
WHAT started off as a modest dream for a former military man, Xolani Dube (33), has become a reality, as his investment in the fast food industry has begun yielding colossal profits, a sign that not all business in the city is dead.
In less than 24 months of establishing the now popular pizza outlet — Slice Pizzeria — in Bulawayo, Mr Dube said he was glad to have followed his dream and hunch.
In an interview with Sunday Business last week he spoke of how he ventured into the industry.
“I established this outlet in August of 2013 but began running it full time in October that same year. It was always my passion to run a food outlet. I am a former military man but I have always had a passion for the hospitality industry. After I left the army I migrated to South Africa in 2007, where I worked as a waiter and rose through the ranks to become a manager.
It was there that I managed to save up enough capital and knowledge about running a restaurant and also various recipes to establish this place in 2013. The initial idea was to start a traditional food outlet but I then decided to venture into pizza seeing that it was less congested, had more potential and would also create competition in the industry,” he said.
Mr Dube said, as is the trend with any start-up business, he feared suffering losses but was astounded to realise profits and popularity from the local community.
“At first people were not sure about the type of pizza we make, knowing that there already was a pizza giant Pizza Inn operating. With time people developed an interest in our brand and we have since become a favourite,” he said.
Slice Pizzeria, which is situated at corner 12th Avenue and Fife Street, prepares their pizzas using the traditional Italian methods, where they use fire instead of electricity.
“The oven we use to prepare the pizza is called a wood-fired oven, which is the traditional and most preferred method of making pizza. The oven is different in the sense that the rich flavours of the ingredients are more pronounced and is fasterto cook. It only takes about three minutes to cook, which makes it easier, faster and economical from a business point of view,” he said.
Mr Dube mentioned that they had up to 35 flavours of pizzas available, of which 10 catered for vegetarians.
“We have 35 sumptuous flavours, 10 of them catering for vegetarians. We are also Halaal certified, meaning that we are able to sell food stuffs to non-pork eating individuals or groups. We cater for all, which is the core of our business,” he said.
Mr Dube added: “We have also begun selling other fast foods such as fried chips, chicken pieces, sausages and other meals. We hope to have established another outlet by this time next year.”
Mr Dube also said that he was a hands-on type of person and worked full time at the pizza outlet.
“This business is demanding and if you really want to realise profits you have to be hands-on. Especially since we are just a starting up business one has to be here all the time to create relations with clients.
I work with a team of 10 people which is gender balanced. I trained the individuals myself hence I know that what they make is quality,” he said.
Dube said that they had affordable pizzas, which had seen a rise in competition in the industry.
Slice Pizzeria offers two size ranges of pizza with the smallest being a medium and the biggest being a large.
