The Nanaga Farm Stall is a jewel in the crown of the Sunshine Coast which is the name given to the stretch of coast line running from Port Elizabeth to Port Alfred – some 150km km of beautiful and unique seascape that forms part of the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
For an astounding 40 years this farm stall – situated 50km outside Port Elizabeth on the N2 to inland Grahamstown – has represented a beacon of familiarity and sense of comfortable ease to literally thousands upon thousands of people. Nestled at the foot of gently rolling dairy pastures the sight of the famous farm stall has, for all these years, set the taste buds a-tingling from a distance!
In fact the Nanaga Farm Stall was featured in the February 2008 issue of Country Life Magazine as one of the top 15 farm stalls in South Africa – an accolade indeed. Over the years this establishment has built up a strong contingent of regular customers and has been a milestone, both figuratively and literally, for so many families around the whole country!
The owner, Leigh-Anne MacKenzie, took over the reins of the farm stall from her mother, Lynn, about 10 years ago. Lynn arrived in the Nanaga District in 1968 when her husband George decided to leave the rat race in Johannesburg and return to the Eastern Cape to continue dairy farming. Totally foreign to an agricultural environment she soon decided that she needed to make some extra cash and began selling cabbages out of the boot of her car parked on the side of the road. This she did whilst pregnant with Leigh-Anne. In fact one of Leigh-Anne’s first memories is helping her mother to remove the cabbages from the boot!!
Then Leigh-Anne’s parents built a very small structure, on the side of the N2 which ran through their farm land, and instantly became renowned for the freshly squeezed pineapple juice. Slowly Lynn added to her list of scrumptious fare – and the rest as they say is history….and the Farm Stall has not stopped growing since then.
However, no business can exist for such a period of time without the usual ups and downs of life. The Nanaga Farm Stall has survived droughts, floods, various structural changes and the most catastrophic - the fire in 2004. Caused by an electrical short the entire front section of the farm stall was totally burnt out one September night. By the time Leigh-Anne and husband, Malcolm, arrived on the scene it was too late. However, together with loyal staff and friends to the rescue, I was business as usual within a month.
But a new era is dawning for the famous land mark, a new beginning – an exciting occurrence only happens once in a life time - the relocation of the farm stall. To follow the progress of the move, and to live the experience with us see the “we are moving” page.
