Cape Town - Boschendal Limited, the owner of the 2 240ha Boschendal wine estate, had concluded a deal with the Kristensen group to lease and manage restaurants on its property, Clive Venning, the chief executive, said on Friday.
Kristensen would have full responsibility for and control of the 120-seat Boschendal Restaurant, the informal but up-market Le Café operation and the picnic service.
The properties in which they operated would remain part of the historic estate and while the lease would operate for five years with an option to renew, Boschendal's owners had reserved the right to cancel the deal if they felt standards were not being maintained.
The outsourcing of the hospitality business follows the sale of the Boschendal wine business, including the wine brand, winery, cellar, production facilities and the cellar-door wine tasting, and sales centre on the farm to DGB, the wine and spirits producer and distributor, last month.
Venning said the restaurants deal, like the agreement to sell the wine operation to DGB, was part of a plan to strengthen the Boschendal brand.
"Both the wine and hospitality businesses have immense potential to raise their turnover. However, we, as property developers, do not have the skills or the time to bring this about.
"I am confident that the Kristensen group will increase the visitors to all Boschendal's hospitality venues by about 50 percent within the next two years, while raising the already high standards," said Venning.
Mike Lumb, the chief executive of Kristensen, said his group was now arguably the largest independent restaurant group locally.