Hi! We are the Johnsons, owners of The Little Deli in Linden.

The Little Deli is the culmination of a 25 year journey in food shared by myself, Andrew, and my wife and partner, Carina. We had originally qualified as a Microbiologist and Fine Artist respectively, before becoming chefs and business owners.

The opening of The Little Deli has afforded us the opportunity to bring together, under one roof, all of the different food ventures and brands we have developed over the years. It also presents an amazing creative platform for continuing to develop new ideas and products.

We began our professional food career with Johnsons Catering, building our business up slowly from boardroom lunches and private dinner parties to larger corporate functions and events. This gave us the experience, and infrastructure, to launch and grow our next business, Deli Express, as the first specialised finger snack platter delivery service, tailored for the corporate market, in Johannesburg.

Whilst successfully running Deli Express, Carina and I both started to investigate other, personal, interests in food. Carina has a passion for French cooking and patisserie. She came across the South-Western French speciality, the Cannelé, during a trip to the South of France, became determined to master them and voila! Teacakes was born. For myself, it was an interest in making my own sausages in a traditional way (i.e. no  unnecessary “stuff” in them) which lead to a serious interest in the quality, and source, of the meat I used. I began looking for, and interacting with, farmers that truly pasture raised their animals in a sustainable and more natural way. That culminated in our brand Bacon and Bangers as well as Authentic Food, brands that were previously available directly from us, online, and through a few select retailers around Johannesburg.

All of our products share a common ethos. We make nearly everything we offer, from scratch, right here in our own kitchens, using real ingredients. We avoid preservatives and artificial additives wherever possible and use stoneground flour, pasture raised eggs and real butter in all of our baking. The meat we use is strictly Farm to Table, no intermediaries, and we do all of our own butchery.

And now the journey continues, at The Little Deli, Linden.

Andrew and Carina