Meet Junior Garnet of #AppACombo Online Restaurant in Bulawayo

Junior Dube popularly known as Junior Garnet is the brains behind the stove at #AppACombo online restaurant in Bulawayo. It’s a food service whereby you order your food from anywhere in Bulawayo and they will deliver it to you! Their slogan is #YouAppUsWeServeYou. It’s literally as simple as that. Let’s find out how #AppACombo came about and how you can have the pleasure of experiencing their delicious meals.

When did you start #AppACombo?

#AppACombo officially opened 22 July 2020

How did you realise that there is a market for it?

I have been working on a restaurant since 2016, I wanted it to be different from the rest and I created a system that focused on the customers more. Customers need a service provider that will listen to them, help them solve problems etc. so I was tired of being a victim in most local restaurant, knowing most of them don’t have a social media platforms, it was hard to reach out. So I decided I should start mine and do the right thing.

Where did you get capital to start?

I sold Chef Viic’s pizzas for a $1 commission per pizza sold for about a month. Those dollars were enough to buy us material for new menu entries i.e. chicken and chips, branded packages. building step by step.

How many people are on your team?

Including myself, we are three, the fourth being any of the drivers that we hire for deliveries on the day.

Who does the cooking?

I do, with the help of 2 more chefs on some days.

You were looking for premises, should we expect a restaurant soon?

Definitely! We need to be seeing your faces on a regular basis.

What’s the most popular item on your menu?

People love our chicken. Though our loaded fries have had more orders recently

What are some of the obstacles in running #AppACombo?

Lack of a huge financial injection to get us heavy duty equipment, a car for deliveries and an expanded workforce.

What’s the one thing that you need to revolutionise your business?

The support of our people.

What’s the highest number of orders you’ve ever processed in one day?

22! The next day I woke up wanting nothing to do with a kitchen. But we do get more than 30 orders a day and some of them we cannot fulfill because our working capacity does not allow us to and it’s something that we are working on.

Do you offer catering for events or large groups of people?

Right now we can do for a maximum of 50 people. We don’t have a big team yet so we wouldn’t want to stress the man power that we have currently.

What’s the one thing you attribute to the success of #AppACombo?

Firmness. I know I wanted this, I knew it was going to be hard, but I was firm in pursuing it and I worked hard towards it.

How does someone get hold of you to place orders? 

We have a Twitter platform, Facebook, Instagram, a website and lastly WhatsApp. People can get in touch with us for orders. For easy access we say people should be using WhatsApp as it is more convenient and the number is +263 783 227 946

Do you only deliver to certain areas in Bulawayo?

We deliver all around Bulawayo. ALL

How instrumental has social media been in your business?

This is an online restaurant, despite it having a physical space soon it will still be a movement whereby the client still sits at home, takes out their phone and reaches out to us for a fire meal using any of our social media platforms. So social media has been very instrumental and my will is that it continues to do so. The internet is the new streets.

Is this a side hustle for you or it’s the only hustle you have?

This is all I have. My current family, relatives, friends should eat from this. #PunIntended