The man from Soweto who started a unique fast food restaurant taking on the giants
Lwazi Madonsela began his entrepreneurial journey at the age of eight by selling his artworks to classmates and has since opened a unique restaurant in Johannesburg.
He grew up between Mpumalanga and Soweto with his grandparents before moving to live with his mother in Gqeberha (formerly known as Port Elizabeth) during his high school years.
This varied upbringing exposed Madonsela to a wide range of life experiences, allowing him to witness “the lowest of the lows and the highest of the highs.”
His entrepreneurial instincts were evident from a young age. In grade two, he realised that his drawing skills provided a “loophole for money,” which encouraged him to sell his art to classmates.
As a child, Madonsela also spent weekends working at his late uncle’s store, where he learned retail concepts such as markups and customer relations.
For high school, he attended Pearson High School in Port Elizabeth, which focused on art and design. The school offered intensive coursework comparable to first-year university visual art classes.
The curriculum helped him gain early exposure to branding, design strategy, and marketing, functioning like a “makeshift agency” where students had to justify every creative decision
When he was in grade 11, a school design tour to Cape Town first introduced him to the structural departments of advertising and marketing.
Madonsela told BusinessTech that he planned to study art at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) but instead chose motion picture at AFDA, specialising in VFX post-production.
After his first year, he returned to Port Elizabeth to support his mother during a health scare and briefly enrolled in a visual arts program.
He dropped out, as it repeated material he had learned in high school. Due to his mother’s academic background, he felt inclined to continue studying.
This led him to enrol at Lisof to study pattern making, driven by his interest in fashion.
Madonsela finished his degree at AFDA while actively participating in the thriving sneaker reselling wave.
He began his media career hosting “Another Sneaker Show” at Shelflife, a popular South African sneaker store, where he explored sneaker history, design, and industry trends.
During this time, he learned skills from a mentor, including screen printing and direct-to-consumer sales, while executing brand activations for Nike and Shelflife from 2019 to 2022.
From podcasts to restaurants
In 2022, Madonsela worked as a freelance designer for Warner Music Africa during its rebranding, handling design and photography.
He later co-founded the podcast “Cnr Juta and De Beer” with Shu McDowell, spotlighting independent creative entrepreneurs in Johannesburg.
The podcast has released over 130 episodes and became the first podcast on the Nike app in Africa, collaborating with brands like Johnnie Walker and Momentum.
Despite its success, he became frustrated with the corporate “invoice culture,” facing strict payment terms and delays even after the 90-day period for payment.
At 26 years old, he realised he wanted a more stable business model that would allow him to earn money hourly and establish a solid foundation.
He decided that sustainable success in the creative sector belongs to those who provide actual products and services directly to their community.
Convinced that a restaurant was a recession-proof business, Madonsela devoted a significant portion of 2025 to intentional research.
He spent three months in Cape Town exploring fast-food establishments, even using his iPhone’s measuring app to assess the height and comfort of restaurant chairs to determine what worked best.
He avoided high-overhead corporate locations like Rosebank and restrictive utility setups in Braamfontein.
Instead, he returned to his roots, noting that younger generations living in the townships deserve the same high-quality culinary and design experiences as those in major cities.
By partnering with a chef to perfect the taste profile, he launched “And Fries.”
And Fries is a township-based restaurant and cultural hub in Soweto, South Africa, blending city experiences with township culture.
For Madonsela, the goal is not just to sell food; he explained that he aimed to provide a community experience filled with music and design that fast-food giants couldn’t replicate.
The space features a red, white, and concrete aesthetic inspired by Five Guys, with a focus on community and experience over generic food.
Specialising in high-quality chicken and potato dishes, the menu includes unique items like “sticky asian” wings, lemon pepper wings, and the “Lemon Dijon” burger with lemon pepper and Dijon mustard.
“Everyone eats chicken; if they don’t eat chicken, they eat fish, and that’s probably the next step,” Madonsela told BusinessTech.
Madonsela describes the vibe as creative and nostalgic, making it a popular spot for local creators, with photography on the walls and music sessions hosted on Sundays.
Photos of And Fries
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