Area served South Africa Founded 2006 | Industry Online retailing Number of employees 51 - 100 | |
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Key people Andrew Smith, Shane Dryden Founders Shane Dryden, Andrew Smith Profiles |
Cheers to 10 years a lookback at the life of yuppiechef com
Yuppiechef is an online retailer of kitchen and homeware products founded in 2006 by Andrew Smith and Shane Dryden in Cape Town, South Africa.
Contents
- Cheers to 10 years a lookback at the life of yuppiechef com
- 5 yuppiechef philosophies
- Inception
- Early Notoriety
- Funding
- Pioneering e commerce in South Africa
- References
5 yuppiechef philosophies
Inception
Originally run from Andrew Smith’s home, Yuppiechef was one of a few experimental E-Commerce projects initiated by co-founders Andrew Smith and Shane Dryden who were running a web development agency at the time. Initially, the first Yuppiechef deliveries were packed and shipped from Smith's lounge.
Early Notoriety
In 2010, Yuppiechef gained significant media attention through guerrilla marketing that made use of a national marketing campaign by retailer Woolworths called ‘Woolies Lovebirds’. A misspelled URL on Woolworth’s marketing material, allowed them to register the URL and post ransom note asking that Woolworths match any donations by Yuppiechef’s customers to a local charity they supported at the time.
Funding
The company received an undisclosed amount of funding from international hedge fund managers Tiger Global Management in 2011 and 2013.
Pioneering e-commerce in South Africa
Known for their hand written cards and fanatical customer following, Yuppiechef is considered one of the pioneers of e-commerce in South Africa, and has independently been awarded the accolade of best eCommerce store in South Africa from 2010 - 2015