The General Store

Running a restaurant in a water-restricted city changes how kitchens operate. The General Store works within Cape Town's realities—load shedding schedules, seasonal water availability, and the rhythm of local suppliers who depend on winter rainfall and summer growth. This means prep work gets planned around power windows, storage systems lean heavily on generators or alternative methods, and menus shift based on what's reliably available rather than what a corporate distributor promises. Staff adapt service times when the grid goes down, and kitchen equipment gets chosen for resilience first, flash second. Every meal served is proof that consistent food quality in this city requires thinking differently about logistics, not just cooking.