For some food is seen as art, for others music is an art form.
Ignatius Anayawa has fused the two at the Misty Jazz Restaurant and Café in Lusaka. Earlier this year, Misty’s won the International Hotel & Restaurant Quality Award from the Global Trade Leaders’ Club (GTLC) in Madrid. The question is how this two-year-old establishment on the periphery of downtown Lusaka received this honor so soon?
The answer lies in Anayawa’s innovation. The idea and concept of the establishment was born out of his love for jazz and his desire to combine music with food. It was also important to Anayawa that the music was performed live. There are very few venues where one can have a meal with good live music playing in the background. The interior décor and ambience of Misty’s is more likely to be found in Johannesburg than Lusaka.
The biggest challenge in establishing Misty’s was finding an environment where the music could compliment the cuisine. The venue had to be suitable for jazz to be the core of the ambience. The menu also had to complement the music.
When entering Misty’s, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a gallery of jazz artists’ photographs. You would also be forgiven if you thought the menu was a jazz photo album. It was designed by the Vice President of the South African Chef Association, to specifications of the concept of fusing jazz and food.
No detail was spared in establishing this top notch venue. The walls and floor were soundproofed, the fabric of the upholstery and furniture had to complement the venue’s acoustics and the ceiling had to be an ideal height for live music. The purple color scheme and the gold framing of black and white pictures initially jars the senses, but eventually grows on you. The pictures behind the stage, featuring New York and New Orleans skylines, add a cosmopolitan vibe. The venue boasts sound equipment from the United States and a piano from Britain. The sound engineer’s booth is suitable for live broadcasts and recording live performances. Every Sunday, a Lusaka radio station broadcasts live from the restaurant.
This minute detail makes Misty’s difficult to replicate and the unique brand is being established in Kampala and Accra. Another innovation in the Misty’s concept lies in the intention to adapt it to the different night lifestyles of African cities. The venue in Kampala will have live music being performed in the bar, which will have a much larger floor space than the restaurant. Lusaka’s venue will give more space to the restaurant.
Despite these differences, some consistency will be maintained and the venues in Kampala and Accra will be fitted by the same team that worked in Lusaka. More often than not, the materials for the fittings are imported.
In Lusaka, the venue will be in a newly opened shopping mall on the outskirts of the city center. The restaurant and stage takes up more than 60% of the floor space and the venue has the capacity to seat 115 patrons comfortably. Fifty percent of the venue was financed by Anayawa and his wife, the other half came from the bank. It is projected to take three years to break even, and so far the business is on course to hit this target. A definite sign of the success of the Misty’s brand is the fact that patrons of six different nationalities have expressed an interest to franchise the concept in their home countries.
The factor that sets Misty’s apart is its ability to deliver both food and music of the highest quality. The restaurant has hired an experienced executive chef from South Africa, and the menu includes signature hearty dishes such as braised oxtail in a rich red wine sauce, grilled French trimmed lamb cutlets, stewed beef, beef fillet with a white wine and mushroom jus, and tempura prawns. Excellent music is ensured by having band members on the restaurant’s payroll. They rehearse every morning, besides Mondays, and perform every night. On Fridays and Saturdays, the band performs with guest artists that are fit for the venue.
The challenges that Misty’s has encountered include being the victim of its own success. Patrons tend to enjoy themselves so much that they spend their entire evening at the venue, with little to no turnover at the tables. This limits the revenue that can be made in one night. This tendency also presents another problem. The venue is busiest on Fridays and Saturdays when patrons can be most relaxed. However, the introduction of the live radio broadcasting on Sundays has improved business on this night.
Misty’s is also introducing themed nights and using social media to effectively reach its target audience. In addition, as a member of the GTLC, Misty’s will be featured in marketing and publications that the club puts out.
Another challenge that Misty’s has encountered is the sourcing of food which, more often than not, has to be imported. This means that the food is more expensive than it should be, squeezing the food margins. However, this has spawned another business opportunity. Misty’s imports its food in bulk and supplies other restaurateurs.
Given the effort and expertise that has gone into establishing the Misty Jazz Restaurant and Café brand, there is no doubt that it is meant for those that enjoy the finer things i