It has been eight years of back and forth between government departments and trying to untangle all the red tape, but the popular Nanaga Farmstall has finally opened its new fuel station and express store.
Co-owner and farmer Malcolm MacKenzie said while more developments were on the cards for 2019, the opening of the fuel station and express store, along the N2 between Port Elizabeth and Makhanda, had already created 50 jobs.
The family-run business was started about 49 years ago by MacKenzie’s mother-in-law, Lynn Lake, who sold cabbages from the boot of her car parked on the side of the N2. Over the years the farm stall grew along with Lake’s clientele.
In 2004, the farm stall burnt down due to an electrical fault and in 2009 they moved premises from right next to the N2 to where the N2 crosses with the N10 and R72.
MacKenzie and his wife, Leigh-Anne, who is Lake’s daughter, moved to the Eastern Cape from Johannesburg in 1999 to be closer to her family and to help with the business which has grown in popularity with each year.
The small-scale farm stall and tea garden had been transformed and replaced with the modern farm stall, complete with a children’s play area, spacious parking lot, conference facility, curio store and restaurant.
Along with the new petrol spot, next year will see a truck stop and Nanaga’s chicken fried food outlet developed, MacKenzie said.
“It’s been a challenging but stimulating journey for all of us and it was quite a rush to get the fuel station and shop operational before the Christmas buzz,” MacKenzie said.
“We’ve had this plan in mind for about eight years but we had to get the relevant permissions, we had to get the rezoning done as well as the environmental impact assessment done.
“Just looking at how much employment we’ve created, you sometimes want to tear your hair out as a developer because you’re hampered almost the whole way through.”
The business had previously been zoned for agri-operations but is now zoned for special purpose.
Aside from the famous pies and roosterkoek, MacKenzie said the farmstall’s “Eastern Cape feel” was probably the reason people kept coming back.
“Having grown up in a city like Johannesburg, leaving the rat-race you feel the sense of community in the Eastern Cape.
“Outside of the busy seasons, we get so much support from our locals,” he said.
The new fuel station will be supplied by East London-based fuel company Express Petroleum, the official branded distributor for Shell SA.
Express Petroleum retail manager Sean van den Berg said the partnership with Nanaga was “a match made in heaven” as the two dynamic brands came together to offer a personalised experience.
“It’s good to know that our customers have peace of mind, because we offer them a product they can trust,” he said.
“There are very few people in our province who haven’t heard of Nanaga, and our coming together really proves that local is lekker.
“Its an iconic destination and both our brands have firm roots in the Eastern Cape.”
The new sections have employed 22 petrol attendants, 25 shop assistants and three workers outside the store.
Newly employed attendant Elize Nicklaai said she was grateful to be working with the team at Nanaga.
“I was working at another petrol station nearby but this is where I am happy to be,” she said, shortly before joyfully waving her red cap at customers coming to fill up.