Mulanje Pizza restaurant plans to relocate to Limbe or Blantyre and asks well-wishers to donate rental space

* The hospitality facility was thriving prior to CoVID-19 through clientele of foreign tourists but took a nasty turn when the pandemic reached its peak

* Small business like ours has its challenges as rentals are too high, transportation is expensive and to acquire short term loans from banks is near impossible

* We prepare our pizza using the most traditional way of a wood fire  and we are one of the best pizza restaurant in Malawi

By Duncan Mlanjira

The CoVID-19 pandemic, Cyclone Freddy, low tourism business and current financial crisis that has affected the entire country, have hard hit Mulanje Pizza restaurant’s business such that its management plans to relocate to Limbe or Blantyre but can’t afford the expensive rentals in the two towns.

Thus Willard Mahata — owner of the hospitality facility that was thriving prior to CoVID-19 through clientele of foreign tourists from Europe and elsewhere — is asking well-wishers to donate rental space since rentals in either of the two towns “are very expensive to small organisations like Mulanje Pizza”.

“Once well-wishing fellow business people can offer us this support to move to towns like Limbe or Blantyre, people will save time, fuel and money, which is the deciding factor that our business is low,” he said.

“Though our main clientele are foreign tourists, we also cater for local tourists, mostly those we served before and loved our pizza, which we guarantee as the best pizza.

“Small business like ours has its challenges as rentals are too high, transportation is expensive and to acquire business short term loans from banks is near impossible.

“We wish we could get support from the government as grants or partnership since we promote tourism,” said Mahata, who also turned Mulanje Pizza’s building into a Cultural Museum and Art Gallery, which depict the country’s culture and falling along with the ‘Warm Heart of Africa’ motto.

Mahata joined the hospitality industry in 1975 in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) where he got his first diploma from Bulawayo Technical College and went on to attain a degree in 2007 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

“I have worked in various hotels within Malawi and outside rising into different managerial positions up to the level of a general manager and in August 2018, I found a gap in the pizza business at Chitakale in Mulanje.

“I inherited the facility, formerly named Mulanje Pepper Pizza at Chitakale, which had been closed for eight months and I renamed it Mulanje Pizza.

“The business started very well since it already had clientele — tourists from Europe and even our own local tourists — whom we promote because, though pizza is our primary product, we also have a fully flagged menu.

“From 2021, when the country was hit hard by CoVID-19, we lost a lot of customers and due to that, business came to a standstill because people were not traveling at all.

“Thus we decided to beef up the pizza restaurant and opened up a Cultural Museum and Art Gallery, which should depict our culture and falling under our motto of the ‘Warm Heart of Africa’.

“Our Cultural Museum also caters for primary and secondary school pupils to appreciate the culture of our ancestors’ livelihood and also us as makolo adzana (recent parent generation) who lived in Namulukunuwa (round hut) where life was very simple and straight forward.”

He added that doing business in Malawi “is now survival of the fittest” after experiencing CoVID-19 (which made the tourism sector lose big business); the Cyclone Freddy followed by cholera outbreak — all being exacerbated by the financial criss that has hit the entire country.

Thus, as business is so low, Mahata plans to relocate to Limbe of Blantyre where Mulanje Pizza regular customers will not have difficulties to reach them while at the same time wooing new clientele after sampling their “delicious pizza”.

“The challenge is acquiring modest rental space,” Mahata said. “We need those kind-hearted fellow business people to offer us space in these towns since rentals are very expensive to small organisations like us.”

Mulanje Pizza is located at the lovely roundabout at Chitakale, the junction to Phalombe where tourists hike up the magnificent Mulanje Mountain the Likhubula Lodge.

Highlights of Mulanje district as a tourism destination include hiking up the 3rd largest mountain in Africa, the challenging annual Porters Race up the mountain, tea plantations whose beautiful view is all the way to Muloza (the border with Mozambique) and the sweet pineapples and bananas grown there.

Mulanje Pizza adds to all the service a tourist — foreign or local — may need and its local visitors have also been plenty.

“We prepare our pizza using the most traditional way of a wood fire  and we are one of the best pizza restaurant in Malawi. Apart from foreign tourist clientele, we also have domestic customers who come from Limbe, Blantyre, Lilongwe and even Mzuzu.

“We also have pizza with names of people like Dr. Ben, Dr Rolland [after doctors based at Mulanje Mission Hospital] and Che Nyirenda, who initiated the recipes.

“Many thanks go to Dr. Ben in Australia, who keep visiting us and he is the reason we want to keep the Mulanje Pizza legacy going,” he said.