Our journey began in Port Elizabeth in August 1994, when we opened Cafe Dulce our first restaurant/coffee shop in the Greenacres Shopping Centre, Port Elizabeth and realized our passion for the hospitality industry and customer service. We received consecutive awards proving our standard of excellence. At the end of January 1998, after three and a half years of great success we sold Cafe Dulce to move on to greater ventures. After 16 months of research, we then with the help of my uncle Carlos and aunt Elza, myself, Fernando and my wife, Magda, brought the St Elmo’s Woodfired Pizzeria concept to Times Square Shopping Centre, Walmer in May of 1999, as a family orientated restaurant with its own kiddies playcenter, a first in Port Elizabeth.
After three and a half years of great success, and bursting at the seams, we secured a bigger premises in Walmer Park Shopping Centre, one of the biggest shopping centres at the time in Port Elizabeth. We opened up our doors to the public in December 2002 and once again built up a great following, providing food lovers with authentic WOODFIRED pizza of outstanding quality, with superb service.
This, together with a FREE delivery (within a 3km radius of the store), excellent service and our resolute insistence of using only the freshest, prime ingredients in all our products, created a successful recipe for us.
After 22 years of constant growth and success in the hospitality industry and upon hearing about renovations to the Walmer Park Shopping Centre, we decided after 15 years in Walmer Park, to step out of the franchise industry in November 2017 to create our own unique brand and franchise San Fernando’s Grillhouse & Woodfired Pizzeria, based on our expertise and experience gained over the past years through hard work, commitment and loyalty to our clients.
This new and exciting venture, combining fine quality food with a new bright and relaxing atmosphere, will still focus on our outstanding customer service and quality of the food that we offer. On this, we will not negotiate!
We are passionate about providing a world class experience to our valued customers and community by delivering a premium, quality product at an affordable price, yet still delivering on a memorable dining experience for the entire family.
The vision of San Fernando’s Grillhouse & Woodfired Pizzeria, with our passionate dedication to taste, innovation and excellence, is to be the first choice for customers to enjoy dining on the best grills, ribs, steaks, prawns, other seafood, pizzas and pastas, including ordering take-out and delivery, in Port Elizabeth.