In putting their support and buying power behind local producers, The Peninsula All-Suite Hotel in Sea Point is helping to support local economic sustainability.

One of the areas where this initiative is most visible is the hotel’s Sunset Restaurant. Here, ingredients are sourced from authentic and sustainable local suppliers that have been chosen with care to ensure the local economy is the prime benefactor.

“It’s a win-win for everyone. Firstly, supporting local businesses is more cost effective for the hotel but more importantly, it stimulates the local economy in so many ways. Existing businesses are allowed to grow and new ones are encouraged to break into the market, affording us better products and talent,” says Chris Godenir, General Manager of The Peninsula All-Suite Hotel.

At the hotel’s Faces Bar there’s also an insistence on local, with a wide range of locally crafted beers and spirits. “In recent years, South Africa has become home to a number of world class spirit producers, with our Cape Gins, especially, setting themselves apart in both taste and quality. The support of institutions like the Peninsula validates the work of producers from across the country and will go a long way in helping expand local job creation,” adds Chris Godenir.

This intense focus on local comes on the back of recent comments made by President Cyril Ramaphosa who has urged government entities, the private sector and individuals to make a concerted effort to support local enterprises in alleviating the country’s current 27.2% unemployment rate. In his address, the President also promised to commit R100 billion over five years to local business owned by people from previously disadvantaged backgrounds.

The commitment to the initiative also extends to one of The Peninsula’s biggest partners, Woodstock Gin Company. “We source our botanicals from a local nursery called the Cape Flats Fynbos Nursery, who are doing a fantastic job in preserving our indigenous fynbos and also providing jobs to local people in the area. Woodstock Gin’s own contribution to job creation has increased over the years and we now provide eight different jobs, seven of which are to previously unemployed and disadvantaged people,” says Simon von Witt, Co-Founder of Woodstock Gin Company.

Adds Chris Godenir: “Supporting the local economy is the only way to ensure a sustainable future and the Peninsula couldn’t be more proud to be part of making the changes necessary to achieve it.”