Waitress makes headline news as restaurant owner

[caption id="attachment_71970" align="alignright" width="300"] HOT SPOT: Trendy News Cafe at the Boardwalk twice scooped the franchise's award as the national marketer of the year -[/caption]

At only 24, Zoetmulder took the plunge and bought shares in the eatery

WHEN Sandy Zoetmulder applied to work as a waitress at a Port Elizabeth restaurant, she would have never dreamt of owning the business one day.

Yet today the busy mom and wife has managed to make a career out of what she initially thought would be a part-time summer job at News Cafe at The Boardwalk.

Not only is the restaurant an award-winning business, but it supplies employment to 20 people – which was Zoetmulder’s main motivation to buy into the restaurant in the first place.

After matriculating from Alexander Road High School in 2000, she worked in the hospitality and tourism industry in Dubai for two years and then returned to Port Elizabeth to visit her family.

“I made a lot of money overseas and just wanted to earn some extra pocket money, so I started working at News Cafe in December 2002."

“After a week of training, the manager let me work as the front of house hostess, later doing orders and working out the shift list. When the quiet season hit, I stayed on. I was planning to go back overseas, but did not realise that I missed my family so much,” Zoetmulder said.

-Cindy Preller