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New halaal eatery opens at Wits
By Naledi Mashishi
Halaal food outlet Jimmy’s Varsity has opened for business on Wits West Campus.
A new halaal eatery has opened on campus. Jimmy’s Varsity, a subsidiary of the Jimmy’s Group franchise, opened its doors on West Campus for the first time on Thursday, 24 January.
Jimmy’s is owned by the family of a Wits BCom student, and primarily serves sandwiches, burgers, and grilled chicken. Tasneem Gani said that her family had decided to open Jimmy’s Varsity after she had been unhappy with the halaal food options on campus.
“I noticed the food on campus wasn’t up to standard and used to go off campus to get food often,” she told Wits Vuvuzela.
The family approached Wits Student Services after a tender was issued by the university at the end of October 2018 for a new halaal eatery. Gani said that her family worked throughout November and December to open the outlet.
“We needed good cheap food for students and this is a completely redesigned menu. We’ve lowered our prices and still kept the quality of the food. The average meal here is R42 which is comparable to res meal prices,” she said.
The outlet will also deliver food across Main Campus and is still working on deliveries to the Education and Medical campuses.
Nicholas Matthes, Wits deputy director of retail and catering, said that of the six tender proposals that were submitted to the university, only two adhered to the halaal requirements. Jimmy’s Varsity was the only one which responded to the price point requirements as well.
Matthes said that the university is continuously working to improve the quality of the food on campus. “We undertake surveys and ensure that we continuously improve retail mix offering in line with retail strategy, students and university community population and industry trends,” he said.
Former BCom Accounting student, Bilal Ismail, said that the quality of the food was far higher than that of the previous eateries he had been to on campus.
“The food [at a previous outlet] was stale sometimes, but here, so far so good. The food is good and the chips are fresh and tasty,” he said.
FEATURED IMAGE: Jimmy’s Varsity is a new food outlet which gives the Wits community more halaal options on campus.
Photo: Naledi Mashishi.
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