More than 200 residents flocked to the Heron Community Centre on Thursday night, 5th December to welcome back our largest, oldest and most popular community centre: our Heron! After a three-month renovation period, the Heron Community Centre and Pizzeria officially re-opened its (new) doors to the community.
At the relaunch, residents got to check out the newly renovated kitchen and pizza oven and sample some of the pizzas and ciabattas off our new menu, curated by Executive Chef Gary Opperman. They also got to meet, and appreciate, the technical team responsible for Phase One of the five-phase Heron upgrade project.
Addressing residents, General Manager Malcolm Samuel thanked Technical Manager Nicky Misra, Facilities and Maintenance Manager Gary McKenzie and the technical team, IT Manager Nicolas Links and Security Manager Dysan Parasaraman for their hard work. And, of course, Architect Gerhard Breedt, whose vision was brought to life by Thorn Construction’s Ivan Slabbert and his team. He also paid tribute to the tightknit Simbithi community for their support, understand and patience.
Chairman, Justin Clarke, echoed these sentiments and showed off some of Heron’s new technology: a buzzer system for quick notification when your pizza is ready for pick up!
New Heron Pizzeria Manageress, Charlene Janse van Rensburg (whose cheerful face you may recognise from the Fig Tree) and her team were also introduced.
Over our opening weekend, we sold 332 pizzas – thank you, Simbithi!
To Our Residents:
During season, Heron Pizzeria will be open Monday to Sunday, 10am – 8pm. NB: though staff will arrive at 10am, first pizzas will only be served from 11am. While, like most businesses, we have had a few teething problems during our first weekend of trade, we look forward to ironing these out and improving service. As our pizza oven has a maximum output of 48 pizzas an hour, we kindly ask that you are patient with our staff when you’ve placed your order. You may contact the Heron on 032-946 5423.
PHOTOS: Blonde Zulu Photography
