{"id":869384,"date":"2026-08-08T16:56:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=869384"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:56:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:56:38","slug":"the-family-business-in-south-africa-that-went-from-being-a-small-farm-stall-to-a-major-luxury-supplier-to-woolworths-checkers-and-dis-chem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/869384\/the-family-business-in-south-africa-that-went-from-being-a-small-farm-stall-to-a-major-luxury-supplier-to-woolworths-checkers-and-dis-chem\/","title":{"rendered":"The family business in South Africa that went from being a small farm stall to a major ‘luxury’ supplier to Woolworths, Checkers and Dis-Chem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wedgewood started as a family business selling nougat at a local farmers’ market, and now has several stores across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded in 1999, Wedgewood has remained a family business, with the founder’s son now serving as CEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company was started when Gilly Walters began hosting small concerts in her home, serving a variety of treats to her guests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The events were a way to make ends meet after her husband was diagnosed with cancer, and hosted up to 100 people in the family home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her baking was largely inspired by her time working in France when she was younger, leading her to attempt to make Mont\u00e9limar nougat one evening for her guests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reportedly, this first attempt did not work out, with the texture and consistency all wrong despite a good taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following this, she decided to continue working on the recipe and eventually developed a product for sale at the local farmers’ market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our family kitchen became a constant stream of nougat to be tasted, pulled and prodded by anyone who stepped over the threshold,” Paul Walters, Gilly Walters’ son, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her stall was a booming success, for both her nougat and the unique nougat cookies that she sold, and soon the whole family was involved in the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the company remains a family-run business, with Gilly Walters’ son, Paul Walters, serving as Wedgewood’s CEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The business is based on a former dairy farm in KwaZulu-Natal, close to the Drakensberg mountain range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The farm serves as the centre of Wedgewood’s operations, including its bakery and makery, as well as a farm shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our nougat is still handmade on our farm, and we work with the same passion and commitment that we always have,” Paul Walters said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Whilst creating exciting new recipes and all the while keeping a very particular eye on quality, just the way our mum did.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wedgewood today<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Gilly Walters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From humble beginnings, Wedgewood has grown its presence across the country, opening stores in several provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It currently operates eight stores, including its original farm stall, across KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Town, and Gauteng.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stores focus on luxury and are labelled as an emporium by Wedgewood, with their products sold in high-end, bespoke packaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The atmosphere created does not stop there \u2013 from the staff’s uniforms to the design of the stores’ exteriors, the company makes a clear effort to convey quality and luxury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Store location is also a considered aspect, operating in areas such as the V & A Waterfront, Hazelwood Pretoria, and the Midlands Meander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company became known for its nougat and biscuits before moving into selling ice cream in its emporiums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company places a strong emphasis on selling its products as presents, offering hampers and other gift-related items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside its dedicated stores, the company is a major supplier to many other retailers, such as Woolworths, Checkers and Dis-Chem, with a primary focus on wholesale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By focusing on wholesale supply, the company can reduce its overhead costs and benefit from bulk sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This approach is common among small businesses, which lack the capital to support large-scale infrastructure projects but want to expand their product reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company places a strong emphasis on developing the community in which it was founded and has started several outreach initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our goal is to make a difference, whether it\u2019s developing recipes, giving back to our community or finding ways to be more environmentally friendly and sustainable,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes sourcing its unique packaging from local communities to support job creation in KwaZulu-Natal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said these initiatives help ensure that its products are wholly produced in South Africa, using locally sourced materials and supporting job creation in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photos of Wedgewood<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wedgewood was founded as a family project in KZN and remains a family-operated company today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":869471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2086104411894395076","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2170440860442980","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18092231561425844","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[5223,26096,24994,25952,26106],"class_list":["post-869384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-checkers","tag-drakensberg","tag-hazelwood","tag-v-a-waterfront","tag-wedgewood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869384"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":869480,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869384\/revisions\/869480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}