Elephant & Friends

Running a restaurant in Pretoria means planning around load shedding schedules and managing a kitchen that needs to stay operational when the grid doesn't. Elephant & Friends navigates these realities daily—backup power systems, flexible menu planning, and communication with regular customers about what's actually cookable on any given evening. During the heights of Eskom disruptions, kitchens that rely on precise temperature control and live-fire techniques have to think creatively. Storage, prep timing, and supplier coordination all shift. The restaurants that survive this honestly, without cutting corners or pretending the problem doesn't exist, are the ones that keep Pretoria fed when conditions get tight. It's about infrastructure and adaptation as much as it is about flavour.