Today we’d like to introduce you to Anton van Vuuren.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Anton. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I was born in South Africa, originally from the greater Johannesburg area residing, most recently, in one of the north eastern suburbs of Pretoria. I never saw myself in a permanent lead cooking role as cooking was merely a hobby that I did for gatherings at my home.
My background is in Telecom based IT which is what first brought me to Texas where I met my wife Nicole. She always liked the food and over time complained more and more about food quality when we dined out. She then suggested we look into opening our restaurant.
Before finding suitable premises, I worked on converting all of my recipes to grams and commercially supported quantities. I also had to test the recipes by cooking them in large batched quantities and quickly learned that commercial equipment does not work the same as what we have at home. All the cook times and temperatures needed alterations, which I did over time.
Once I identified a location executing the changes required to turn it into a restaurant was the next step. Help in this was hard to find, so I became the General Contractor all whilst working with the equipment to test my recipes. The entire restaurant was built with me being involved daily. Whatever I did not build myself, I assisted contractors in the building.
The original thought for the restaurant was to be something like a Donut shop, i.e., have a strictly To-go style menu with coffee/drinks. When we opened, people wanted to stay and required table side service, so I quickly got disposables to support the demand. We are currently working to convert into a full service restaurant that is desired by our customers whilst they are working on stretching our hours. Currently, we are only open from 0630 to 1530 Tuesday-Saturday and 0800 to 1600 Sunday. I start every morning at 0230 prepping dough for breads and setting up for the breakfast service. Everything is cooked from scratch and never frozen so customers get fresh flavorful food. My thoughts on dining out is order something you cannot or do not make at home or something made better than what you can at home.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Coming from an IT background, everything in the restaurant business new to me. Cooking the food was the easy part, figuring out the processes to ensure we can produce food consistently and at the required quantities was very challenging.
Please tell us about your work.
We are a Southern African restaurant specializing in local Southern African food. We are known for fresh in-house made breads and deserts. Something unique to us is our fried breads (Vetkoek) which we serve with different sweet and savory fillings.
We are most proud of bringing a new style of cuisine to DFW. We also provide the Southern African community a taste from home. Not much compares to watching someone eat a dish they have not tasted in years and then see how they are transported back to a time and place of familiarity back home with loved ones.
We prepare and serve traditional Southern African fare that cannot be found anywhere else in the Metroplex. All of our food is created with our own in-house mixed spices. Some are containing the African Birds Eye Chili, a.k.a Peri-Peri.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Consistency of our food.
Contact Info:
- Address: 610 E Byron Nelson BLVD
#109 Roanoke 76262 - Website: https://www.antonsafricancuisine.com
- Phone: 682 237-2330
- Email: antonsafricancuisine@gmail.com
- Instagram: antonsafrican
- Facebook: Anton’s African Cuisine
Image Credit:
Phillip Littrell
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