“Just call me Michael, everyone does,” he answers whenever asked for his surname.

All too often, however, the talk turns to how lucky Michael has been, how he has been at the right place at the right time, and so on.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, he has had the Midas touch, but there has been no luck involved. Michael started from the bottom, learned the business and worked his tochus off. And he still does.

Insightful delivery of what the market wants, skilful execution of a quality product and sheer hard work are the secrets of this kosher operator’s success.

Michael started at bottom – literally - and worked his way up the learning ladder. There are no short cuts to becoming successful in the hospitality business. One needs to understand food. Understand the customers. Ensure one presents them with the right offering. It takes time to learn.

Michael’s entry into the food industry was with the Linga Longa group of restaurants. During his many years with them he honed his skills in the restaurant side of things. He started as a waiter and left years later having worked his way and learned everything he could there.

Then he joined Dino’s restaurant in Bedfordview, where he again learned new food industry skills.

Michael always knew he would open his own place, and soon enough realised that kosher would be the best way to go. But he also wanted to save enough and build enough knowledge before he did. So he joined Shula’s Bakery and learned about the kosher side of things too.

Having learned the ropes and saved enough to start his own restaurant, Michael made his move into entrepreneurship.

His first venue was the original Michelo’s in Dunnoter Street Sydenham, which he opened in April 1998, almost 13 years ago. He was around the corner from a kosher steakhouse and everyone told him he was crazy – he would be closed within a year. Well, they were wrong. So wrong that within a year the steakhouse was closed.

In 2001, Michelo’s moved to its present position in Glenhazel. Despite the success of Michelo’s Michael continued to work hard. He believes in being hands-on. In 2006 he opened Burger Box and in 2007 he sold it. Despite the succees he had made of Burger Box, it was difficult to remain hands-on in two places – even if they were next door to one another.

In 2009, after 11 years at the helm, Michael sold Michelo’s and he started looking for something else. That something was Café Monroe – by far his biggest investment to date, which opened a year ago – on 15 February 2010.

One would have thought that by now people would have come to know and understand that Michael is a man who knows what he is doing in the food trade. But no, one by one people told him he was a meshugenah.

Everyone had a view as to why Café Monroe was going to be the one that didn’t work for Michael. Once again, after a year, he has proved them all wrong. He has seen three restaurants (one of which was kosher) close down in the Norwood Mall since he has been there.

And several other Norwood kosher establishments have disappeared over the year, while Café Monroe has, once again, gone from strength to strength.

Café Monroe is a Chalav Yisrael coffee shop and restaurant that serves a large non-kosher crowd as well. They serve their full breakfast menu all day as well as the general menu.

Due to the many out-of-towners (SA and overseas Jewish travellers) that frequent Café Monroe, Michael makes sure that he always has up-to-date Israeli newspapers as well as a good stock of local papers and magazines.

Monroe’s also has its own WiFi network so that his patrons can work on their laptops. This is a very popular service as any regular visitor can attest to.

So popular has Café Monroe become with visitors, that Michael fondly refers to his ‘campers’ – customers from out of town who spend much of their time at Monroe’s. In January there had been a frum wedding with guests from all over the globe staying in the vicinity. Michael says that the guests spent much of their time at Monroe’s, “sometimes having three meals a day here.” Being in the heart of the shtetl, says Michael, makes this typical of the ‘campers’ who he and his regular patros get to know and befriend.

Thursdays are the only evening that Café Monroe trades (unless they have one of the many corporate functions they do). They dovetail nicely with the late-trading at Pick n Pay which extends their hours for the benefit of their kosher customers shopping for Shabbas.

On Thursdays, Café Monroe has a now-famous “All-you-can-eat Pasta Buffet!” which offers a lot more than just pasta dishes. There is always at least one fish dish, with salads and veggies too. And they serve soups and deserts as well. READ MY SHTETL’S REVIEW.

Their normal a la carte menu is also available during the buffet – as it is during their other popular buffet, Sunday brunch. This is served as a breakfast, through brunch. This, too, has become an increasingly popular community meeting point.

They open at 7.30 am Sundays to Fridays. Their closing times vary, from 5 pm on Sundays to 6 pm Mondays to Wednesdays, 9 pm on Thursdays and 3.30 pm on Fridays. Café Monroe does not open at all on Saturdays.

In another innovation for the Joburg kosher community, Michael recently introduced a LOYALTY CARD which has gone down extremely well with the regulars. Click to find out more about it and find out how you, as a MyShtetl user, can win six Thursday buffet dinners worth R540!

Monroe’s is becoming an increasingly popular outlet for take-away meals, says Michael. Customers can pre-order anything from their well-priced menu and have it packed and ready at the time it is ordered for. “The other very popular take-away trade we do is in cuppachinos and chillas,” says Michael. “You can’t believe how they fly out of here.”

What’s next for Michael? “I like building and developing kosher businesses,” he says. “Monroe’s is established now and I do have a few ideas I am developing. Maybe it is time to put Monroe’s on the market and develop something new,” says the consummate entrepreneur.