South African kitchen and homeware online retailer
This article is an orphan, as no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; try the Find link tool for suggestions. (August 2016)
Yuppiechef.com
Company type
Private Company
Industry
E-commerce, Retail
Founded
2006 (2006)
Founder
Andrew Smith, Shane Dryden
Headquarters
Cape Town, South Africa
Area served
South Africa
Key people
Andrew Smith, Shane Dryden
Number of employees
150+
Website
yuppiechef.com
Yuppiechef is an online retailer of kitchen and homeware products founded in 2006 by Andrew Smith and Shane Dryden in Cape Town, South Africa.[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 2010, Yuppiechef gained significant media attention through guerrilla marketing that made use of a national marketing campaign by retailer Woolworths called ‘Woolies Lovebirds’.[3][4][5][6] 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[7] and fanatical customer following,[8] Yuppiechef is considered one of the pioneers of e-commerce in South Africa[9] and has been named the best eCommerce store in South Africa from 2010 - 2015.[10][11][12][13][14][15]
Twelve years after starting its online store, Yuppiechef opened its first brick & mortar stores in Cape Town and Johannesburg.[16] In October 2017, the first of their physical retail stores was launched.[17] The company has subsequently opened two more stores in Cape Town.[18] Yuppiechef is now headquartered in Westlake Business Park, from where they also operate a store.
Yuppiechef was sold to Mr Price in 2021 for an undisclosed amount. [19]
Smith and Dryden launched their next business, Brave Hardy , in 2023 [20]
^"Andrew Smith | Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans". Archive-za.com. 2013-03-20. Retrieved 2016-04-20.
^Barry, Hanna (2015-04-14). "What Yuppiechef can teach corporates about customer service". Moneyweb. Retrieved 2016-04-20.
Yuppiechef is an online retailer of kitchen and homeware products founded in 2006 by Andrew Smith and Shane Dryden in Cape Town, South Africa. Originally...
2007[citation needed] Power Fashion – acquired in 2020[citation needed] YuppieChef – acquired in 2021[citation needed] Studio 88 – acquired in 2022[citation...