Yuppiechef

Yuppiechef is a South African retailer of kitchen and homeware products, based in Cape Town.^[1]

Originally run from Smith's home, Yuppiechef was one of a few experimental e-commerce projects initiated by the co-founders, who were running a web development agency at the time. Initially, the first Yuppiechef deliveries were packed and shipped from Smith's lounge.^[2]

In June 2008, Paul Galatis, a high school friend of Smith's, joined the company as its third partner and assumed the role of Marketing Director.^[3]

In 2010 Yuppiechef won a gold Loerie and gained significant media attention through guerrilla marketing that made use of a national marketing campaign by retailer Woolworths called ‘Woolies Lovebirds’.^[4][5][6][7] A misspelled URL on Woolworth's marketing material, allowed them to register the URL, and post a ransom note asking that Woolworths match any donations by Yuppiechef's customers to a local charity they supported at the time.

Known for their handwritten cards^[8] and fanatical customer following,^[9] Yuppiechef is considered one of the pioneers of e-commerce in South Africa^[10] and was named the best eCommerce store in South Africa from 2010 through 2015.^{[11][12][13][14][15][16]}

Twelve years after starting its online store, Yuppiechef opened its first brick & mortar stores in Cape Town and Johannesburg.^[17] In October 2017, the first of their physical retail stores was launched.^[18] The company has subsequently opened two more stores in Cape Town.^[19] Yuppiechef is now headquartered in Westlake Business Park, from where they also operate a store.

Yuppiechef was sold to major South African retail chain Mr Price Group in 2021, for an undisclosed amount.^[20]