In 1980 diminutive dynamo Khatija Mall spiced up Durban by launching Gorima’s. Today it is an iconic KZN speciality spice chain that boasts 21 stores and almost 300 employees, writes Shelley Seid.
Gorima’s began modestly enough with the manufacturing of a single product. “Mrs M” – who also answers to Aunty K, or Ma K – used the recipe given to her by her husband’s aunt as the foundation of her enduringly famous spice paste, Magi Masala.
The aunt, Zuleikha Mayat, was the editor of one of South Africa’s best-selling cookbooks, Indian Delights, and the spice was so good that it could turn the least talented cook into a curry connoisseur.
But the journey to success was not an easy one.
With no money, no equipment and no premises, Mrs M and her husband would buy supplies of chillies, garlic and the like from Clairwood market at the crack of dawn, manufacture the paste in the Mayat’s kitchen, and sell it at flea markets, or even out of the boot of their car.
Slowly the business grew. Mrs M brought her brothers and their wives on board, they moved into a small factory, grew the range and began running demos of Gorima’s products up and down the KZN coast.
The first store opened in Durban’s iconic Workshop Shopping Centre in 1986.
“I’ve been involved in this business since I was four years old,” says Mrs M’s nephew, Arshad Moola. “I grew up in Johannesburg but we spent every holiday in Durban at our granny’s house. One of my earliest memories is standing in the kitchen, at age seven, putting caps on bottles of spices.”
Today Arshad Moola is the director of Gorima’s, and manages the business together with his brother, Yunus, and cousin, Feroz Khan.
“We grew up with the business,” Moola says, “As soon as our counting skills were good enough, we would help the cashiers. As soon as we could drive we would help with deliveries. As we built our skills, so our responsibilities increased.”
The ethos and culture of Gorima’s is in his blood, he says. “If you prick me, you’ll get chilli powder.” On a more serious note, Moola says that hard work and caring is part of Gorima’s culture. “Actually, I’d take it further than ‘caring’ and use the word ‘empowerment’. Aunty K was given a leg up, and we understand how important it is to give others a leg up.”
Soon after opening their first outlet, the Malls ran out of funds. They approached their suppliers to ask for credit. Spice Emporium’s Vinod Harie swiftly agreed, thereby saving Gorima’s from a desperate situation.
Mrs M is quoted as saying, “This was a turning point in my life. If this man – a complete stranger – trusted me, then I too, would do the same for others.”
Today, Gorima’s supports between 50 and 60 home industry operators who supply products, ranging from biscuits to pies to savouries, out of their own kitchens. These micro businesses employ two or three people themselves, “so that’s at least another 150 people who are earning a living through Gorima’s”, says Moola.
Anyone opening a store during 2020 – a year of lockdowns and Covid-19 – needed nerves of steel. Gorima’s opened a branch in Windermere Centre in September 2020, but, says Moola, they were not particularly nervous.
“We had been advised that if you keep stores five kilometres apart you would be fine. We also have a business strategy not to spend a lot on advertising but rather spend on location – you will always find us next to an anchor tenant in a shopping centre.”
It’s not the first time the Gorima’s team has shown it can take the heat. Opening in Chatsworth, surrounded by spice stores, was risky. “The Blue Ocean, Red Ocean strategy says it’s better to set up in a blue ocean, far from competition. If you set up close to competitors there will be blood in the water – a red ocean,” explains Moola. “We went against the grain but Gorima’s good name and reasonable prices has made the store a winner.”
Innovation is also at the core of Gorima’s culture. “When Aunty first began a customer might ask ‘where is the pickle?’ Aunty would go home and make some herself and then look for a supplier,” explains Moola, adding that stock is adjusted to fit the location and respond to different food trends.
“We stocked Indonesian shrimp chips in the 80s, and Thai products like lime leaves and sticky rice in the 90s.” Over the last 10 years, he says, they have noticed a shift to convenience, especially during holidays like Eid and Diwali, where people tend to buy biscuits and sweetmeats rather than bake at home. “We believe our competitors are business people selling food, whereas we are food people in business.”
Going forward, Gorima’s is looking to move further afield and open branches in major centres around the country. The brand is on the up, but what is the greatest challenge it faces? “We are becoming more corporate, and although we are scaling up, I’m determined to retain our commitment to empower and care for others. As Muslims, our first priority is to help humanity. Gorima’s will never lose that.” *
LESSONS LEARNT
Arshad Moola says every challenge brings a lesson.
“We opened in Gateway shopping centre and initially it was a ghost town. We had to improvise, and thought, ‘Who is catering to the hundreds of employees in the Gateway shops?’ We had a supplier providing us with 10 dozen samosas a day, but these would be finished by 11am. Aunty said, ‘Get a hot plate and a fryer and use our frozen stock of samosa’. Business boomed. The lesson? Adjust your offerings to the demand.
When the demographics changed at the Workshop a lot of old customers moved to the Musgrave and La Lucia stores. That was no problem for Aunty. As she said, we were still teaching non-Indians to cook a decent curry. It was great for my late granny who spoke only Guajarati and Zulu. These days, huge queues form outside Gorima’s three days before Christmas. The customers are mostly African people lining up to buy lentils, rice and masala for biryani, because that is the preferred Christmas lunch. The lesson? Keep in touch with your customer base.”