After serving meat to train commuters for more than four decades, popular Park Station butcher Jose Dos Santos has witnessed South Africa’s transition from apartheid to the unbanning of organisations leading to a free society through the eyes and ears of his customers.
Dos Santos, who started working at the station at the height of the Soweto uprisings in 1976, says his unwavering quality service has sustained him for 42 years in the business.
The butcher, fondly known as “Mkhulu”, probably has a lot in common with many of his customers from the black townships. He was raised by a poor single mother after his father died when he was 6 years old in impoverished Madeira, Portugal, where he was born.
Life for him and his five siblings wasn’t easy and he was forced to quit school in Standard 4 (Grade 6)to find work to help feed his family.
“One of our in-laws suggested I come to South Africa for better opportunities. My mother had to borrow money for my ticket. I came here via Mozambique and the train dropped me off at Park Station.”That was in 1964.”
According Dos Santos, 42 years after he first set foot at Park Station, it still feels as though he never disembarked from that train from Mozambique.
“I feel I am still on that train which brought me here more than five decades ago. I think the day when I retire, that will be the day I will feel I have disembarked from that train as I will no longer be at this station.
“This place has been my home since I was a small boy. I have known no other place in South Africa where I have spent so much of my time, of my life,” says Dos Santos with a distinct Portuguese accent.
His first job at the station was at Alpha Butchery, which was owned by a Jewish immigrant who took a liking to Dos Santos because of his good customer service.
“One day he said to me, he would like me to own this shop so I must start saving money to buy shares. At that time I was paid £20 a month, but then things were very cheap. With R5 you could fill a Pick * Pay trolley.
“So I started saving money and managed to buy my first 20% shares and continued until I bought the whole company,” he says.
On Thursday, Dos Santos reached another milestone in his business by opening one of the biggest shops at Park City, employing more than 50 workers. His secret? Good customer service.
“I train my employees on how to treat customers. I don’t train them only on how to use machines,” he says with a big smile.
As most of his customers are working class, Dos Santos introduced meat stamp vouchers starting from as little as R20 to make meat affordable.
“Most of my customers come from poor families, so during Christmas and in January they struggle to put a decent meal on their tables.
“These stamps, at the end of the year, they can use to buy quality products and have good meals during Christmas with their families.”
Like many businesses in the CBD, Dos Santos hasn’t been spared the wrath of criminals either. He was shot during an armed robbery, but this has not diminished his love for South Africa and its people.
“I was shot three times during an armed robbery but I will not leave this country because of a few bad people,” he says, lifting up his T-shirt under his white dust coat to reveal terrifying scars.
The recent outbreak of listeriosis has also left its own dark marks on his revenues as sales dropped by a huge 25%.
“This outbreak has been bad for my business. I have tried to stock other polony brands but people are not buying them.”
Dos Santos says he likes the outdoors, listening to music and running to keep fit and, although he is 66 years old, he makes a point to stress that he is not retiring any time soon.
He has this advice for aspiring entrepreneurs: “Hard work is important. I am at the butchery from 5am till 7pm, Monday to Saturday. Spend your money wisely. Don’t spend it on booze and friends. Most importantly, treat your customers well. Don’t sell cheap, poor quality products”.
At least one of his customers, known only as Sis Ntombi from Soweto, concurs: “I have known Mkhulu since I was 10 years old when I first came to this shop in 1989, and he has treated all his customers with dignity.
“When you complain about a product or anything in his shop, he takes you seriously and rectifies the mistakes. He also sells quality meat which is why we come here to buy meat stamps”.