Journey to Service Excellence Programme (J2SE)

Media release: Service excellence heroes honoured in Hermanus

25 October 2018

Gilbert Muchanyara, from Gilbert’s Catering in Hermanus is this year’s Journey to Service Excellence hero.

Muchanyara runs a restaurant, takeaway and catering business in Mount Pleasant.

The Journey to Service Excellence (J2SE) is an annual programme presented by the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, aimed at growing tourism and the economy by fostering a culture of service excellence in towns across the Western Cape.  This year’s Journey to Service Excellence took place in Hermanus. Previous years have been held in Saldanha Bay and Langebaan, and Clanwilliam.

The three part programme consists of service excellence training workshops presented to local businesses and their staff, a radio phone-in competition where residents and visitors can nominate their weekly service excellence heroes and a workshop for company leaders and CEOs.

Lorraine Ruddy, of Carro in Hermanus nominated Muchunyara, who supplies the Curro school’s aftercare with meals, saying he was a “real gentleman, very reliable and extremely polite”.

“Great determination and an excellent work ethic have grown his business over the years into a very successful friendly, family and school business. He has often gone over and beyond the call of duty and always provides the best service,” she said.

Muchanyara has run his business since 2013, priding himself on delivering quality food, on time, even if it means waking up at 4am to ensure all his deliveries are made on time.

“Work hard, look after your clients, always provide excellent service and quality products and do your job to the best of your ability,” is his advice to other businesses looking for service excellence.

Minister of Economic Opportunities, Alan Winde congratulated Muchanyara and all the weekly winners saying: “Every time a business offers excellent service to a customer, they act as ambassadors for their town and for the province.”

He said: “Our goal with the Journey to Service Excellence programme is to give businesses the tools so that we have ambassadors across the province, helping to grow the economy and create jobs, and to reward those who go the extra mile for their clients- whether they be at the local bank, supermarket or service station,” he said.

Nine people were announced as the weekly winners in the six week radio competition run on Whale Coast fm. A total of 23 nominations were received.

The weekly winners received a cash prize, a certificate and a trophy, while the overall winner also receives an additional cash prize. Local businesses sponsored prizes for those nominating their service heroes.

A total of 121 people took part in this year’s four day training workshops, covering marketing, product development, customer care, quality assurance and monitoring and evaluation, using the South African Bureau of Standards for tourism service excellence.

The leadership workshop was attended by 40 local business CEOs and managers.

Minister Winde said “we hope that the Journey to Service Excellence inspires the people and the businesses of Hermanus to continue to strive for excellence, even after the competition has stopped running.”

The full list of weekly winners:

Week 1 Winner: 

• Renier Cronje from Talisman, Hermans

Week 2 Winners:

• Anton van Niekerk – Engen Sandbaai
• Talent Sibanda – Engen Sandbaai
• Reinhardt Singeleton – Hermanus Hardware in Onrus

Week 3 Winners:

• Ruby Ramsay – The Hermanus Frail Care Centre (SOFCA)
• Katrina Salies – The Hermanus Frail Care Centre (SOFCA)
• Desiré Moore – The Hermanus Frail Care Centre (SOFCA)

Week 4 Winner:

• Gilbert Muchanyara from Gilbert’s Catering

Week 5 Winner:

• Michael Bayer – Hermanus has Heart

Media enquiries:

Bianca Capazorio

Spokesperson for the Ministry of Economic Opportunities

Tel: 021 483 3550

Cell: 072 372 7044

Email: bianca.capazorio@westerncape.gov.za