From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dulce Café is the name of a coffee shop/restaurant chain operating in South Africa. Originating in the town of Port Elizabeth, the company has grown to 54 stores throughout the country.

Originally, Dulce was an ice cream manufacturing company in Port Elizabeth. Hubert Stempowski, an Argentinian immigrant of Polish-Argentinian extraction, founded the company in 1980. He named it "Dulce," the Spanish word for "sweet." Stempowski opened the first Dulce retail store in Rink Street in 1984.

Dulce's ice cream quickly became known for its high quality. It was manufactured on-site and sold directly from the machines to customers, "straight from the cow to the cone."

In 1990 the Rink Street store was sold to Lee and Licia Caldecott, a husband and wife team focused on store design and menu research and development. Mike Pullen then joined the group in 1994 and excelled in his capactity as Managing Director. With Pullens strong financial and managerial skills combined with Lee Caledcotts flair and operational experience the franchise flourished. Between 1995 and 2002 twenty-five more stores were opened nationally focusing on regional shopping centres, small towns and niches where they had captured the markets.

The period between 2002 and 2004 was one of consolidation for the company after a managment buy-out occured led by Mike Pullen. The new generation of Dulce Cafe was born.

In 2004 Martin Fuller hailing from England joined Dulce Cafe as the business development director for the company. Fullers strong international business experience have proved to be invaluable to the companies growth. Dulce achieved another coup when Bridgit Ryall a well known and highly sought after marketer came on board as a full time employee as National Marketing Manager.

In 2005 the Dulce family was further strengened through a restructuring of the Operations Support department. Marc Strydom was named manager and has been intrumental in the vast improvment of the Operations Support department. Tracy Harris was appointed as Financial Manager which also strengthened the team significantly.

In 2006 the first Dulce shop outside South Africa opened in Bahrain. Additional franchises have since opened in Botswana, Namibia and Qatar, with the possibility of expanding to other parts of the world.

In 2007 the Dulce Group has successfully launched a new franchise product on the market Deli Biscotti. The first shop has opened in Johannesberg with further stores set to open in areas such as Port Elizabeth and Stellenbosch.

• Dulce Café company website
• Deli Biscotti Website