Legions of harassed parents, desperately looking for a place to eat, drink, be merry (or work) and have their children taken care of will have passed gratefully through the doors of Joburg institution Bambanani over the past 14 years.
Now founder Caryn Cohen wants to take the restaurant concept to a different audience — co-investors, via a listing on the Cape Town Stock Exchange (CTSE) next month with the backing of alternative investment outfit AltVest.
Cohen spotted the gap when she had young children herself. She found, when going to restaurants, that she and her husband would have to take turns to have their meals while running after their children. The actual dining wasn’t great either.
Cohen wanted good food served in an appealing aesthetic — so she started the family-style destination which she describes as a concept with a community following rather than a restaurant.
Bambanani owns the property in which it operates and Cohen has been wanting to access financing to refurbish and expand the business nationally. Unsurprisingly, this community concept isn’t exactly high on the watchlists of SA’s asset management community. Cohen wasn’t keen on corporate investors either and realised that her biggest backers were surely her clientele — mothers, especially.
Cohen says she’s carved a place where moms, dads, children and extended family all have a good time but that her biggest supporters are the moms.
So, she’s targeting them as prospective funders. AltVest is handling the bookbuild where shares are to be issued at R10 each. So far, they’ve raised R5.5m, with a total goal of R12.5m. A listing will then follow on the CTSE on November 7.
Cohen’s vision is to replicate Bambanani’s success around different parts of SA — owned by her prospective partners — parents. “I want a place where [mothers] can learn, network and have support for their kids while raising their families.”
Cohen’s also keen to take the concept further afield — to English-speaking countries like Australia, the US and the UK. She argues that the concept has longevity and, if they keep the quality high and choose locations carefully, “dividends can continue to flow while our property values grow. People keep eating food and having children and the needs of a growing family are timeless.”
Confident that her offering is different from her competitors, Cohen has plans to integrate other ideas in the business. It’s not her first business, and it’s unlikely to be her last.
Koshiek Karan, who chairs AltVest, describes it as a disruptive platform that connects capital to communities, with the aim of breaking into SA’s investment inner circles, where the best investments are tightly held by a select few. “The multiplier effect of wealth generation never escapes a close-knit circle,” he argues.
“By creating an avenue for anyone to access these previously exclusive opportunities, we’re aiming to level the playing field … We love disruptive companies led by strong management teams with a heavy emphasis towards developing communities.”
Karan believes there are plenty of “high-growth, scalable, cash-generative businesses out there”, and says the most powerful models thrive off community feedback.
“Offering up economic participation is the catalyst to trigger aligned incentives and make sure the establishment succeeds.”
Opportunity in the “kid economy” is huge, too, he says, pointing to the fact that one can now buy Disney-branded frozen meals. “If you see me buried in a Bambanani-branded colouring book during an AltVest board meeting, you know the vision has been realised.”
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