Ma Bertha’s Kitchen offers food for the soul
Eleven months since it was opened, Ma Bertha's has established itself as an authentic restaurant offering comfort food to patrons.
Serving home-cooked comfort food that is authentic and unique is what Ma Bertha’s Kitchen has become renowned for. The quaint restaurant was established in May 2013 and has set itself apart as a restaurant that doesn’t serve ordinary, run-of-the-mill food.
According to Dean Simon, a co-owner, the idea behind launching Ma Bertha’s came from the desire to create a flagship store that served original soul food rather than the fast food currently on offer.
“The idea in opening it was also to make preparing the food and service as simple and as user friendly as possible; offering food that is authentic and served in generous portions to our customers,” he said.
Simon added that the owners wanted to ensure that when a customer leaves, not only have they enjoyed a uniquely prepared meal that fills them up, but they will also want to return to the restaurant.
Simon explained the naming of the restaurant, saying it was his grandmother’s name.
He recalled fond memories of her making meals for the family and eventually used these memories to create the décor and the food on the menu.
“The centrepiece of the store – and future stores – will be the old coal stoves from which we serve the meals, recreating those old kitchens where the baking took place in front of you” he said.
As with any other business, realising the dream of launching Ma Bertha’s included a few challenges, such as tapping into a market that was already saturated with fast food restaurants.
“We were establishing ourselves in an area and market that had [many] big brands trading there already… and [since then] we have had to go toe-to-toe with them to compete for customers,” Simon added.
Of any future plans in store, Simon said they will strive to add new and different ideas and meals that are not commonly served. He added that despite the popularity of some of the dishes served, the menu will continue changing to incorporate new ideas
“We have also been approached by an international company who have been captivated by the uniqueness and simplicity of the brand and are looking at the possibility of opening stores in the United States of America,” he added
The restaurant is located in the Johannesburg inner city. Ma Bertha’s is co-owned by Simon, Gary Kaplan and Dr Cyril Donninger.
