The owner of a South African-themed food store in Kendal has reflected on business since opening on the high street last year.
Biltong Buddy, located at 53 Highgate, opened its doors to customers in October last year to great plaudits.
The shop is the brainchild of owner Tara Garavarian and specialises in a wide range of South African delicacies.
Tara and her team aim to bring ‘the taste of South Africa to Cumbria’ with its in-store offerings.
Asked about how business has been since opening the store nearly three months ago, Tara said: “October was a really good month, November got a bit quiet because we had a lot of flooding – but we managed to scrape through.
“December was brilliant, we had a lot of new customers.
“But every month we keep having people go ‘oh, when did you open?’, so there has been a lot of word of mouth,” she said.
Biltong is not the only item for sale at Tara’s shop - it also offers home-baked treats, drinks, and spices for purchase.
Additionally, the business has a website which people can browse and order from in their own time.
Speaking to this newspaper back in October, Tara highlighted how the business was enjoying giving South African expats in Cumbria a taste of home.
Asked about how the festive period went, Tara touched on the fact that she had been told by several customers that the shop had ‘made Christmas shopping easier' this year.
This is because people now know what to buy their South African colleagues or family members as a present, and where to go, she said.
However, although Christmas went well for the operation, the business was unfortunately impacted by stock delays.
Due to storms on the shipping route from South Africa to the United Kingdom, containers with Biltong Buddy stock inside them were diverted and held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for a period.
Tara and her team only received this stock two days before Christmas Day, but it was just in time for customers to get their hands on their favourite picks in time for the big day.
On the business’s plans for the year ahead, Tara said: “Oh, to carry on growing!
“And to have a very large meat supply [in stock], because South Africans, come summertime, we all braai [grill].”
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