To start a business during a pandemic is brave. To start a new food business even braver. To open a new food destination at a cruise terminal when there are no cruise ships is beyond brave and might even seem foolhardy, but Makers Landing which opened its doors in December 2020 is making it work. It’s at the V&A Waterfront cruise ship terminal in the industrial side of the Waterfront just beyond the Silo District. Big signs announce Departures and Arrivals, but what has really arrived is a truly South African food adventure.

Makers Landing was always conceived as a place for locals as well as tourists. The idea was developed way before Covid-19 turned the world upside down, as a way of showcasing the diversity of South African food cultures, with a combination of affordable food stalls and sit down restaurants, sometimes pop-up market stalls, plus an incubator hub and a demo kitchen. There are permanent artisan production spaces along one side where you can watch the action (bakery, cakery, chocolaterie), as well as buy. The entire concept has the food entrepreneur and discerning foodie at its heart.

While the lack of cruise ships has made for a slow start for Makers Landing, it has given Cape Town locals a chance to claim the space, and that they have done. Hope and optimism was in the air when we visited on a sunny June Sunday, in the smiles and relaxed atmosphere, and in the low-key buzz of families, friends and couples from a cross-section of Cape Town’s cultural backgrounds. Some were popping in to grab a coffee from Moses Coffee and bags of koesisters to go from Fuzzy’s. Others were wandering from food pod to food pod, as we did, before settling at one of the well-spaced tables in the huge double volume hall, which has a gallery with a bar and craft beer outlet. It’s very much an industrial space but what could feel bleak is softened by music from a live DJ, installations of hanging enamel plates, colourful tables and above all the friendly smiles and enthusiastic service from all the vendors.

For us it was ideal, as a family of five, all with different food preferences we could each get something different at an affordable price and relax over it as long as we felt like it. Read my next post part 2 for what we ate and more of the individual vendors’ stories.

Reassuringly the food halls had good ventilation and a through flow of air, high ceilings and well-spaced tables. There are excellent no touch hand sanitation stations at regular intervals, and staff are attentive at clearing and wiping down tables in between customers. So, although nowhere is 100% safe at the height of a wave, this is somewhere I felt happy meeting up with family, indoors out of the winter weather but not enclosed. There are doors out onto the narrow wharf with a few tables and an upstairs deck to sit out on too, with views out over the harbour when there isn’t a ship moored up alongside.

Another plus point is the three hour free parking, (a nice change for budget-pinched locals) which makes it easy to pop by to pick up a takeaway, stay for a long lunch, or to shop for fabulous local cheeses from the Wild Peacock cheese pod, grass-fed ethically reared halaal meat from the Conscious Meat Merchants butchery, beautiful cakes and cake pops from Sweet Lionheart, chocolate slabs, bonbons and truffles from Afrikoa for starters.

The winter trading hours are currently Friday to Sunday 9am to 6pm, but the sit-down eateries and bars are staying open for dinner until 9pm on Friday and Saturday nights with big gas heaters, music playing and cosy vibe despite the huge spaces.

“The idea for Makers Landing was always to democratise the tenanting process. By pulling together a curatorial panel that is mixed race, mixed gender and made up of a variety of respected professionals with differing cultural backgrounds, the idea is that the eventual tenant mix will be truly representative and authentic. It is about excellence, of course but it is also about significance. Every tenant will have a powerful story to tell and they will do it through food.”

“With the COVID-19 pandemic, this is even more important, as we are trying to create a place that is about rebuilding businesses and brands. It’s about fostering and nurturing young talent but it’s also about giving people a second chance. It needs to be a blueprint for an entire industry, as we try and put the pieces back together. The industry we love has been left on its knees and is looking for hope. We believe this project provides that.”

From the background information released prior to the opening this quote from Andy Fenner of Frankie Fenner Meat Merchants who is one of the founding curatorial panel members, explains the ethos and aim.