Following on from a couple of conversations about the nitty-gritty of running restaurants, I called on a couple of my favourite local operators to get their view of the world. Kenneth McClarty has been running Olympia Café in Kalk Bay since 1997, so he knows something about keeping a ship afloat. Charmaine Lilje of Chardonnay Deli is a spring chicken by comparison, but the accumulative experience of running 3 successful eateries in the 'South' heaps wisdom upon her in my eyes. We sat down on a stormy Cape morning recently for a natter about the business and the challenges of running restaurants.

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• Cover image sketched by Courtney Cara Lawson
• All profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise credited
• Title music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay