It’s an almost perfect autumn morning driving into Franschhoek. The sky is crisp clear blue, and vineyards and trees are dressed in their spectacular autumn coat of red and gold.
An idyllic postcard-picture scene greets the eye.
But what should be a bustling scene in the heart of Franschhoek of street cafes lined with white linen clothed tables and already filled with tourists enjoying the autumn sun while sipping coffee and chewing on a croissant, is instead rather a sombre sight. Nowhere is a sign of a single tourist, waiter or even a table and chair.
The main drag of Huguenot Road is instead all but deserted, but for a few delivery vehicles and pedestrians who are lucky enough to be on their way to their places of work.
Although the village is as per usual picture perfect beautiful, it is now in total contrast of the usual hustling and bustling tourist hub that it has become over the past more than 25 years. In fact, one of South Africa’s biggest tourist hubs.
Yes, Franschhoek has been hit severely hard by Covid-19, much like everybody, except for the fact that this village relies more than 80% for survival on tourism.
No one really wants to say whether they will be able to weather the storm and be able to open their doors again once the tourism industry gets the green light to do so - which could still be months from now. And in the meantime scores of lay-offs in this industry have been inevitable.
Chief Executive Officer for Franschhoek Tourism, Reinher Behrens, however, puts on a brave face. Asked how he would describe this very sudden collapse of Franschhoek’s livelihood he battles to find words.
“Yes,” he says, “this has obviously been a huge shock. It still all feels very surreal. We have been consulting various role-players in the wine and hospitality industry, such as Vinpro, Satour and Wesgro who, in turn, have been consulting the various authorities about relaxing regulations on tourism. Currently there are no answers about reopening yet, and this may take place closer to the end of the year only.”
Behrens says various restaurants in the village are now offering alternative services such as food deliveries and deli sales.
“We have no choice but to reinvent ourselves and look at alternatives. Although this is a very scary time, it is also quite exciting to find new ways of seeing the future in our business as tourist destination.”
He added that focusing on local tourism will be imperative in future. Not only is it still going to take a very long time to have an influx of foreign tourists again, on whom Franschhoek has relied very much in the past, but now the village has to open its arms to local tourism.
Behrens says during the last two months of the pandemic the town can probably already boasts being the safest town in South Africa, with safety a priority when entering any establishment there.
Local businessman Jeremy Astfalck immediately came to the party before lockdown was announced with setting up hand sanitising stations at the Franschhoek Taxi Rank. He has now also designed a unique sanitising station that will be rolled out across the town. This consists of webbed fruit bags containing soap and attached to a sprinkling system. So anyone, anywhere in town, can safely scrub their hands.
Now regulations have been relaxed in the wine industry, with alcohol going on restricted sale, wine cellars will become more operational. But it is uncertain when wine tastings and sales from wine farms will take place again, something that is bound to keep Franschhoek cellar doors shut.
But the true magic of Franschhoek lies in the massive feeding schemes that have been set up. While the pandemic has become a financial fiasco for all the restaurants in Franschhoek, which are receiving no emergency financial aid from government, the chefs are still cooking up a storm, but with a difference.
In the award winning Foliage restaurant in Franschhoek’s main street it is a daily hustle and bustle, as a team of top chefs and many other members of the community prepare meals and pack food parcels.
Altogether 12 soup kitchens have been set up assisting the needy and every unemployed person in Franschhoek, a growing phenomenon. This is an initiative of Together Franschhoek.
Names closely linked to this project are Chris Erasmus, bearded chef-owner of Foliage, Darren Badenhorst, Margot Jansen, previously of L’ Quartier Francais, and Liam Thomlin of Chef’s Warehouse.
But Franchhoek is no newbie to crises.
Lodine Maske of Franschhoek Lions says because the village lies in a hotspot of mountain fires, and has seen many devastating conflagrations over the years, the club has already started preparing meals.
She said: “This had already enabled us to set up a network of people who are willing to help at a drop of a hat, including all the chefs who are always very willing to help.”
Today, more than 5 000 people in the area are fed thanks to the help of Together Franschhoek, and this number is sure to grow in the coming weeks.
Ashley Bower, coordinator of Together Franschhoek, says this is probably going to be a huge project.
“It is not just about preparing food, but the entire logistics of managing available funds, transport and seeing that help is getting to the people who truly need it.”
He added that the fruit farmers of the area have been a huge help with donations. A portion of land at Val d’Or has also been made available to the project for establishing vegetable gardens. Here local school children will also help out. And farmers have already donated seedlings for planting.
“But this is what Franschhoek is all about,” says Bower, “it is not about me, but we!”
