The mood is sombre. No smiling faces. Cosy Corner and Sabria’s in Wynberg are open for business as usual, but the staff are constrained. The owner of the two establishments died last week, on Wednesday, February 8.
Yousri Hartley was 57 years old and died after a long battle with cancer.
Over 25 years, he and his wife Tasneem drove the transformation of these businesses into vibrant eateries, providing jobs for 37 people. “We know that death is inevitable. He was not just our boss. I feel like I have lost a member of my family,” said Joseph Opoku, a waiter who has worked at Sabria’s for more than five years.
The Hartley family established Cosy Corner in 1973. It was one of the first Halaal eateries in Cape Town and the first in Wynberg. For most customers of colour barred from eating at restaurants that were for whites only at the time, this was a novel experience.
The parents, who had left Johannesburg and settled in Cape Town in the early ’70s, laid the foundation over many years. They were supportive of anti-apartheid activists such as Ashley Forbes.
His mother sent food to those detained at Pollsmoor Prison during the ’80s. But it was Yousri who stepped up to the plate after the coming of democratic South Africa in 1994 and shaped the business into what it is today.
The original business was called Cosy Corner. The couple extended the premises and changed the one section into a sit-down restaurant, naming it after their youngest daughter, Sabria. Slowly they transformed the take-away branded as Cosy Corner into a modern facility that could match any international roadside diner.
Pumla Pika, from Philippi and the longest-serving staffer, has been with the business for almost 19 years.
“I watched Cosy Corner change from a small, old place to this,” she said, referring to the light-filled, modern establishment. “He tried to place in on a high level. He made it nice, with big windows and a courtyard to invite people in. It is so painful to lose him.”
She, like other staff members, described him as a good boss. “He would shout sometimes but always helped me in the end. I don’t have a certificate but I am a fully-trained chef and learnt to respect everyone.” This was her first job after school. Cosy Corner, on the corner of Ottery and Ross roads, has become known as the home of the Gatsby, a long bread roll filled with chips, salad, chicken, or steak drizzled with a selection of sauces. The masala steak and tandoori chicken are the favourites.
Those who have moved to other provinces bring their children back to Cosy Corner for the experience.
“We have families buying here for over 40 years,” said Thembelani Lisa. “Couples have met here, some came for their first date and proposed, and then years later, they introduce their children to us.”
Thembelani, from Nyanga, started as a cashier 13 years ago. Now the supervisor and a Wynberg resident, he attended the funeral on the day Yousri died.
“When I saw the family so heartbroken, I thought he would have said ‘why are you crying?’ He would be in tears himself to see them crying. He was so full of jokes. Despite his pain, he was so calm, and his voice sounded strong when I spoke to him on the telephone last week,” he said.
During the interview, the tears rolled down his cheeks. He reached for a serviette marked with the Sabria’s signature, moving it across his eyes and down his cheeks. Yousri had chosen him to demonstrate how to make a Gatsby at a city hotel, and this memory provoked the tears.
“It was on that day that I realised that he did trust me. He was hard on me but came to believe that I could do things right,” he said. “His death will affect everything. His mind was full of creative ideas. The business was never static.”
Phatiswa Agnes Phakathi, from Khayelitsha, joined Cosy Corner in 2005, 18 years ago. She was a general worker, a cleaner and then trained as a chef. She recalled how Yousri used to come into the kitchen and tell jokes and rap.
“He liked to dance, sing, and he did not like us to be cross,” she said, wiping away her tears on her apron.
“My heart is broken, like he was my brother or my father.”
As Thembelani calmed down, he said that he would like to see Cosy Corner and Sabria’s live on. He was aware that Yousri had overcome his drug addiction and turned his life around.
“It was a beautiful thing to watch him live up to what he wanted to do. Every upgrade, every paint colour, had his hand in it. From where we were to where we are now, it is completely different. It is sad that he is not with us. We would like to maintain his traditions here,” he said.
Yousri Hartley leaves behind his wife Tasneem and two daughters, Mishca and Sabria.
This article first appeared on www.zubeidajaffer.co.za.
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