About us

Our story

As is with all good stories, they invariably start far apart and very humble.

So, it is with Fonso’s Bakery. 

It all began back in 1994 when a somewhat young Portuguese Business Development Manager at a commercial bank, tried to get a very good looking Afrikaans Portfolio Manager at the same institution, to like him. For whatever reason, the two did not hit it off very well at first and the work relationship was often strained and difficult.

At a Christmas function hosted by a local law firm, Mr. Fonso’s plucked up the courage to ask the ever aloof portfolio manager to have a drink with him which, to his surprise, she agreed to. They were the last to leave that evening and have been inseparable ever since.

Fonso’s is an acronym of the family name, Alfonso.

The Fonso’s got married in the spring of 1997 in a private ceremony at the smallest church in the world, nestled in the beautiful mountains and landscape of the Drakensberg. Japanese tourists were witnesses to the marriage.

A year later, Mrs. Fonso’s gave birth to twin daughters, who were named Catia and Siobhan.

Whilst all of this was going on, Charles had become restless with his career in the bank. Frustrated and demoralized, Charles left behind his banking career, as did Annemari, to venture out into business for themselves. With their banking experience, they explored a number of ventures, but eventually settled on the idea of purchasing old run down cafes. The first café was purchased in April 1997 and the second, a year later. Both cafes were modernized, traded and sold.

The third café was purchased in Kempton Park in March 1999 and modernized as well. The Fonso’s had already settled down in Kempton Park and with two small children, decided to stay permanently. 

The store in Kempton Park trading under the name of “Olympia” became a household name in the town, especially for its bakery and fast foods. Three years of ground work in the café industry had resulted in the Fonso’s successfully trading their Kempton Park store for some fourteen years, before it to, was sold in 2014.

Back in 2010, the Fonso’s accompanied their daughter Siobhan, on a trip to Germany where she represented South Africa at the World Dance Championships. They took an extended break and combined the trip with a holiday to the South of Germany to a town called Fussen. It was in this town and visits to other surrounding towns, that the idea of a stand-alone bakery was conceived. There are beautiful bakeries all over Germany.

Fonso’s became a reality and started trading on the 1st of April 2015 out of an idea conceived on a holiday in a far away town in the beautiful countryside of Germany.

The fairy tale prevails to this very day.