One of the most common behavioural traits among business people is their drive to expand and grow the operation, and to make more money. That is, essentially, the point of doing business, to make money.
But sometimes, in a very rare occurrence, a business does not feel the need to expand or be on top of the food chain, but simply be the best they can be.
That could be said about New Victory Foods in the Phoenix Industrial Park, north of Durban.
Owned by the Govender family, and operated by 32-year-old Keoshen Govender, New Victory Foods placed second in the Coca-Cola bunny chow competition (CCBSA) held at Blue Lagoon in early August.
IOL spoke to Govender about the success in the bunny chow competition, the back story behind the business and where they plan to take it in the future.
Together with his mum and dad, Jay and Anand, the Govender family has operated New Victory Foods out of the Phoenix Industrial Park for 18 years.
When asked how they came up with the name for the business, Govender said his dad used to work at Victory Lounge, a dining establishment at the Chatsworth Centre.
“We were sitting one day to decide on a name for the business. And we had nothing, so my dad just said ‘hey, let's call it New Victory Foods’. I knew it was because of where he worked but said never mind, let’s just go with it,” Govender explained.
The last time New Victory Foods took part in a bunny competition was before the Covid-19 pandemic and had a break of about four years before they decided to compete again, Govender explained.
Thirty-nine contestants took part in the 2023 leg of the CCBSA competition.
Govender said to be placed in the top three among “such heavy hitters” was a huge accomplishment.
Selling a tasty bunny on a daily basis is not such a difficult task, as there is no pressure involved, but on the day of the competition, the nerves can sometimes get to you if you do not bring your “A game”, Govender said.
“On the day of the competition, its different from the store. You have to bring the heat. Not just in the way the food tastes, but how it looks, how you present it. It’s like you have to serve the bunny with the intention of giving it to Gordon Ramsay. And not just any Ramsay, Hells Kitchen Ramsay.
“On the day of the competition, it doesn't matter how many followers you have on social media. It doesn’t matter how much money your business makes, you either make the best bunny on the day or you don’t. I have to give a big ups to BP. They are a convenience store and they won,” Govender said.
Being in an industrial area, customers of New Victory Foods often travel to other areas as they are in the logistics industry.
This helps spread the word about the business, as word-of-mouth is the biggest contributing factor to the Govender’s marketing strategy.
Govender said the family has tried to stay off social media as far as possible and let the food do the talking instead.
“We’ve had people, you know those influencers, come in and do videos about our place. But we never really wanted to get onto social media because we liked when our customers told other people about the food instead of us doing it,” the 32-year-old explained.
For R80, you can get yourself a quarter mutton bunny at the second best establishment in the province, which is considerably cheaper than other establishments around Durban, who sell a quarter mutton bunny for R90 on average.
IOL asked Govender how he felt about placing second in the bunny competition; to his explanation, it sounded like a blessing.
“I’m actually happy we finished second. First would have been nice, but that comes with a whole lot of pressure and I think we as a business are trying to focus more on the food instead of fulfilling the pressure that comes with being first.
“Looking to the future, I don’t think my family and I want to franchise or open up other branches. We want to stay here in Phoenix, our customers have always been good to us,” he said.
The food is a reflection of New Victory Foods’ customers, and if it starts to build a brand per say on social media or open other branches, then it will have hundreds of opinions about what a bunny should taste like, Govender explained.
“Having just this one branch will help us focus on the food and customers here. We have customers from as far as Chatsworth, who come all the way here for a bunny. So we do not want to change.
“I want to keep it original. I want to keep what my parents built and focus on word-of-mouth. We are in the Phoenix Industrial Park for 18 years and we want to focus on how we can be more consistent with our food,” Govender said.
IOL asked what factors make a good bunny chow, and he said to focus on the follow:
The texture of the gravy must be right. You cannot have the gravy too watery or chutney-based. The tomatoes need to be cooked properly.
To avoid compromising the gravy and potatoes, remove your potatoes after it is cooked and keep them separately, so when you plate, they won't be gone to mush.
Lastly, investing in the correct spices cannot be overstated. Getting the colour right on the curry is important and the spices play a huge role in this.
IOL