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SOLOMON Matsa, the proprietor of Solomon’s Lifestyle Café and Golden Mile Hotel in Kwekwe, is a man on a mission to redefine nightlife and reform patrons’ lifestyles, not only in Kwekwe, but the rest of the country.
Through his up-market café which has two branches thus far, the one in Kwekwe and Harare, the SA-based Matsa has managed to reform miners’ mindsets by introducing them to the ‘good life’.
In an interview in Kwekwe at the weekend where he played host to house guru Oskido, Matsa said Solomon’s Lifestyle Café, which was formed last year, was a stylish, high class, high life café which offers high profile entertainment.
Located at the Golden Mile Hotel, the café exudes class and is complemented by the state-of-the-art hotel which was recently refurbished. But for this spot (located along the Gweru-Harare highway) to attract the right clientele, it took a lot of work as the city’s residents needed to first adapt to that life. It being a city of gold mining, most of the patrons were naturally gold panners. Being panners, these people, in the early days of the café’s opening, would apparently patronise the spot clad in their torn clothes and overalls straight from the mines to have one or two cold ones.
This, Matsa said, would somehow devalue the place as other guests who would be smartly dressed would feel offended. So, the café’s management had to encourage these miners to change into decent clothes before entering the café.
“We had a challenge with the miners as they’d come dressed in their dusty clothes and work suits. Considering that our café is high end, their dressing was inappropriate so I had to sit them down to advise them to come neatly dressed.
“And interestingly they adhered as they wanted to be part of the brand. This did not end on the dressing alone, but also, their lifestyle changed from buying lagers to whiskey bottles. Their wardrobes also clearly had a major overhaul which is good,” Matsa said.
True to his word, on Sunday, Oskido’s event had an All-white theme and most patrons came dressed to impress in white clothing. And in trying to keep up with the venue’s ‘lifestyle’, most patrons were in the VIP and VVIP with only a few in the general area showing how much the city’s residents were hungry for the good life where whiskey and champagne bottles were the order of the day.
“I’m glad the people of Kwekwe have embraced our café and are living a certain lifestyle which they never thought they’d be exposed to. We’ll continue giving them quality entertainment in the form of top local and SA acts.”
Next on Matsa’s to-do-list is Bulawayo where he hopes to set up another café, but in Makokoba.
“Most good places are found in low density suburbs but I want to take the same vibe to the ghetto hence why I’m eyeing Makokoba. I’ve put in fillers with the municipality there and I’m hoping to secure land soon,” Matsa said.
Online Reporter