Post-lockdown: it’s party time small event companies

Kauthar Gani, 19, is the owner and founder of the KokoLicious mocktail bar. Picture: Leon Lestrade

Kauthar Gani, 19, is the owner and founder of the KokoLicious mocktail bar. Picture: Leon Lestrade

Published May 22, 2022

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Business is booming for small businesses in the Cape Town party sector as lockdown restrictions have been relaxed.

Kauthar Gani is the owner and founder of KokoLicious mocktail bar, a business that sets up a pop-up mocktail bar at private parties and events.

Some of the drinks on the menu include fruity flavoured mojitos and daiquiris, pina coladas and margaritas.

Gani is a 19-year-old BCom accounting student who started her business in January.

The young entrepreneur said she was always making mocktails for her family when they hosted events.

“I was thinking of ways to make money and realised that doing this as a job would still allow me to continue studying,” she said.

Since launching, she has catered for weddings, baby showers and engagement parties. Gani took a loan from her father to start the business.

She purchased a mobile bar and utensils. Preparation for events includes hiring glasses and cutting fresh fruit on the day of the event.

Gani has approached Moerat Events to work alongside them at events.

“I looked at their service offering and realised that mocktails weren't part of it. They agreed to pitch my business to all of their clients,” she said.

“This has been great for my business as it means having consistent work aside from acquiring clients,” she added.

She runs the business with her mother, Darawesa Gani, father, Noogh Gani, brother, Igshaan Gani, and his fiancée, Fadeelah Abrahams.

There are a variety of drinks to choose from and package prices vary based on the number of drinks chosen. KokoLicious operates with a minimum of 100 mocktails per event.

Gani would love for her business to grow.

“I would love to employ more students because just like me, students can’t have full-time jobs and most of our events are on weekends,” she said.

She added: “I would like to include a variety of drinks in my menu. If we can have smoothies or milkshakes or even hot drinks, to cater for each season, that would be great.”

Two Scoops of Happiness wants to make sweet treats affordable. From left to right: Sariea, Aaliyah and Gaironesa Lakay. Picture: Leon Lestrade

The Lakay family from Mitchells Plain run their business Two Scoops of Happiness from a bright-pink food truck which caters at any event and serves guests a variety of sweet treats.

Popular orders include bubble waffles, mud pie dessert and freshly made sugar cones for the ice cream.

Sariea Lakay and her husband, Faeeq Lakay, have five children: Qariah, 5, Yasar, 16, Aaliyah, 19, Gaironesa, 21, and Ragheeba, 24.

Sariea said when she had her last daughter she realised that she wanted to get ahead of empty nest syndrome and start a business.

“I realised how independent my children are. Faeeq and I started thinking of what we’re going to do when they’re out of our house,” she said.

She added: “I don’t want to be financially dependent on my children when they grow up, so we started with the ice-cream truck and the rest is history.”

What started as a stall at Muizenberg flea market in 2019 later became a full-fledged business in 2020, due to high demand.

Two Scoops of Happiness recently opened their base location from their home in Mitchells Plain.

Preparation for events includes deep-cleaning the truck and making individual batters on the morning of the event.

When the ice-cream truck is at a party, hosts get to choose the menu they want for an average of R2 500, along with a service fee of R1 500.

Their mud pie desserts range from R38 to R55, milkshakes from R28 to R45 and waffles from R28 to R65, depending on the portion size.

Sariea said she makes their menu as affordable as possible.

“When I had four kids, I could never afford to take them to Milky Lane for a sweet treat, this is why everything is so cheap,” she said.

Sariea said that in the past two years, they’ve received so much praise at events.

“I see this going national. We are looking at taking our trailer to the road to markets in Johannesburg by the end of the year,” she said.

A birthday party set-up done by Emerald Events. Picture: Supplied

Mymoena Khan is the owner of Emerald Events, a balloon decor design house that specialises in bespoke backdrops and decor for an array of events, for corporate and private companies.

She started her business in 2016 and has catered for content creators on the local scene and has seen her business blossom in the last few months, especially.

Khan said her business is environmentally conscious and makes a special effort to acquire biodegradable balloons.

“When we break down parties, we keep the balloons so we can do eco bricking,” she said.

She added: “We also don’t do balloon releases as it poses harm to birds and sea creatures.”

Her events can cost anywhere from R500 to R10 000.

Khan works with a team of seven people and on average caters for 20 to 50 events.

Emerald Events would like to expand its business.

“The market is very saturated, but we know what we offer and we can only go up from here. We are working on expanding what we currently have,” she said.

An engagement set-up done by Emerald Events. Picture: Supplied

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