No mountain is too high and no vegetable too obscure for the founders behind this space: Wolf Yorrik Lotto, known by his middle name, and Christiaan Chadderton. GardenFresh is on the same property as the long-running The Garden Shop nursery, near the heart of Rosebank. It is the first piece of a larger puzzle being built by Lotto, Chadderton, and their team with the vision of creating a singular, green space in the city that's a go-to destination for artisanal retail, restaurants, and an interesting mix of leisure and creative spaces. Set to open in mid-July (2025) is Something Special – described as a "curated foodie gifting heaven".
The quality of GardenFresh alone points to something exciting on the horizon, as does the duo's impressive track record in the world of fresh produce. Lotto's has a long run in the food industry: his father was a restaurateur, and he began working with him from the age of 14. In 1997, he joined the well-known fruit and veg store Oaklands Farm Supply, where he was immersed until 2022. He then moved to Fishermen's Deli in Dunkeld, where the store won the Best of Joburg award for the best fish shop during Lotto's tenure. Lotto returned to his first love when the opportunity for GardenFresh arose; the store has been making Joburgers' culinary dreams come true since it opened its doors in September 2024.
Chadderton also brings years of experience to the game; he went to work for the Joburg fresh produce market after school, and then moved over to Oaklands Farm Supply where he met Lotto. It was here that he found his love for the retail side of things, and spent 16 years honing his skills. With his partner, he then opened up a store called The Veg Table during Covid-19, which unfortunately closed down. The bright side of this is that Lotto approached Chadderton to partner on GardenFresh soon after.
"The concept was to create a clean, bright space on par with European market-type stores with exotic, hard-to-find, quirky, and interesting produce that you were unlikely to find anywhere else in Joburg," Lotto tells us. The rest is history or, in Chadderton's words: "Boom, here we are!" We caught up with Lotto and Chadderton to chat about sheer, veggie-fuelled joy, the vision for GardenFresh and the surrounding space, and a little bit about their lives in the city.
What made you decide to bring in produce from local farmers?
The Joburg shopper is swamped with the same regular produce time and time again. We made the decision that instead of joining the humdrum supply channels and offerings, we would hunt for produce from local farmers that was edgy, different, and rare – the type of produce you would be exposed to walking through overseas markets. We wanted to create a space that was not only clean and fresh but also beautiful and exciting; a place where we could share our knowledge about fresh produce and the vastness of what is actually available when one is passionate about sourcing fine, fresh produce.
There's a fabulous array on offer at Garden Fresh. We went nuts for the heirloom tomatoes on our last visit. What excites you so much about fruit and veggies?
It’s the look on our customers' faces when they walk in and are met with produce they have only read about or seen overseas, or produce that brings back childhood memories. It’s a beautiful thing to witness; you have no idea how much joy it gives us, and how proud we feel to get people excited about making dishes with produce not previously available, such as the ingredients needed for Ottolenghi's recipes.
We hear you're able (and willing) to source just about anything that grows, fuelling people's kitchen dreams. What's the most unusual item you've been asked to source?
We are fresh produce hunters and live for this! We love a challenge, and if it's humanly possible, we will do whatever it takes to find that special something something. Sjoe, there is a list of items for this answer: yellow dragon fruit, alphonso and kesar Indian mangoes, caviar limes, fresh truffles, amla fruit, jujube dates, juman fruit, chikoo fruit, cucamelons, baby marrow flowers, romanesco, violette di firenzi aubergines… Needless to say, we have come to the party on all these items. Currently, we are searching for cime di rapa, a very special variety of kale with broccoli-looking fronds and yellow flowers. A real rarity, but we're on it! One of our farmers has planted seed, and we can expect this in the spring.
Where do you source from? Tell us about the kinds of suppliers you work with and how you find them.
Well, we can't tell you all the tricks of our trade. Essentially, it's about reaching out to those farmers that are as passionate about produce as we are. Not necessarily the farmer with huge lands and mass produce but the farmer that grows special, authentic, original heirloom seed with small yields. We commit to this farmer and help them achieve their vision jointly. Farming is a labour of love, and it's tough. We respect this and don’t pressure our farmers on their ability to supply. We allow them the space to grow and supply when and if, they are able to. I [Yorrik] have been in the game for almost 30 years. Along the way, you meet the most amazing suppliers and growers; I now reach out to them continuously to grow and source from other farmers to procure our niche offerings. Our suppliers and growers are not limited to local, but this is always our preference.
The store itself is a joy to spend time in, with beautiful attention to detail. What was your dream for the space?
Local fruit and veg stores have essentially all looked the same for many years. Even the fresh produce sections in supermarket chain stores they kind of all copy one another, and new ideas don’t remain unique for long. This was a team effort with our partners, development team, and architects. The best part is that we all had the same vision. Bright, fresh, clean, with a dash of "farminess". Our colour palette [and aesthetic] was very simple; white, slick, and clean cut. It was agreed that our produce would be the star of the show, as it should be. Our stunning entrance was built off-site and was designed to give a greenhouse feel, with lots of natural sun coming through and an abundance of fresh flowers and colours and aromas at the entrance. It prepares your senses, giving you a feeling of freshness before you walk into the main retail space in the store. Being in a nursery helps. Every morning before we started the building phase, we would sit outside and just be totally sucked in by the beauty of all the plants and herbs growing around us.
You also bring in other passionate food-lovers in the city with weekly activations. What can people expect to encounter at Garden Fresh?
From the moment you walk in, the experience begins. We want our customers to feel like they have been transported to a gorgeous space and experience a European-style fresh farm market setting. You are greeted and looked after by warm, attentive staff, with Chris and I present and always ready to answer questions and share information about our suppliers and producers. Every Saturday, we give the opportunity to our suppliers of fine artisanal local products to promote their goods and let clients test [the produce] and chat with the producers.
What is your broader vision for Garden Fresh as part of the story of food in Joburg?
To become the go-to store for the finest, most exotic fresh produce and fresh ingredients, and to have a GardenFresh product in everyone's home. To provide a level of service where customers feel warm, welcomed, and excited to come and shop with us, and walk away feeling like have just visited their friends.
And, to receive a Best of Joburg (BOJ) award for best florist and place to buy fresh produce.
And this is just one piece of the puzzle of the centre. What else is in the environment? And what’s still in the pipeline?
The vision is too create a large green hub with curated retail stores and provide an outdoor shopping experience, landscaped gardens, stunning eateries, artisanal fine retail stores, and creative spaces in a precinct that is secure, abundant, and a place where the whole family (including the pets) can spend the day, and feel like you are out of town – despite being in the centre of Joburg north. We are currently adding a new store as part of the GardenFresh family: a curated foodie gifting heaven with a selection of all the finest bottled and preserved products available to spoil oneself or to have gift-boxed for friends and family. This will include stunning local ceramics (serving dishes, fruit bowls, condiment spoons, knives, and bowls). The focus will be on creating a farm store environment that is beautiful to look at and browse through, following the look and feel of the GardenFresh store and focusing on local food products. It will be called Something Special @GardenFresh. We will be ready to trade mid-July [2025].
What’s the best thing about what you do?
Being able to create an experience that gets our customers excited about food and gets them into the kitchen cooking and preparing dishes they never thought they would be able to put together. Hearing the comments from our customers who make a conscious effort to tell us we have the most beautiful, friendly food store they have ever walked into.
You can put three things in your basket when you leave the store, what are you taking with you?
Hmm, that's pretty impossible as there is just so much that is fabulous. But if we had to choose: a selection of heirloom tomatoes, fresh porcini mushrooms, and Brillat-Savarin French cheese.
Rapid-fire round: Four questions about Joburg
What brought you to Joburg and/or what makes you stay?Yorrik Lotto: My parents. The hustle and bustle, and Joburg people in general, make me stay. We are just so cool and chilled and lekker!
Christiaan Chadderton: Joburgers are the friendliest people! [I love] how many places you can strike up random conversations.
What is a surprising thing people might learn about Joburg by having a conversation with you?
Lotto: Some of our fresh produce suppliers are literally a stone's throw away from the store, and grown in their gardens.
Chadderton: Well, currently the whole nine yards is in development – it's going to be a proper gem to visit in Joburg!
If you were Joburg's mayor for one day (average tenure), what would you change?
Lotto: Start an inner-city produce growing program on top, outside of, and inside derelict buildings, to provide fresh produce for the community.
Chadderton: Free education and school programmes that give more direction. Everyone is capable of being amazing, if you are given a chance.
What makes someone a Joburger?
Lotto: Resilience, and the ability to walk into a place and strike up a conversation, and end up having the best time ever with strangers.
Chadderton: The ability to laugh most things off (potholes, electricity, water issues, the list goes on). But you know what? We still wake up in the best city in the world!
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