Chef Fortunato Mazzone

Fortunato is co-owner of multi award winning five star graded Ristorante Ritrovo in Pretoria with his father, well known chef and Italian food pioneer in South Africa Giovanni Mazzone. He is also involved in the Olive Oil and Wine business. Other passions in his full and hectic life apart from his obsession with food and wine are writing and opera.

Fortunato is a proud member of the SA Chefs Association, and the Vice-Echanson of The Ordre Mondial. Fortunato was invited to take part as a South African superchef at the Gauteng Good Food and Wine Show from 2003-2006, and in 2005 and 2006 was a feature chef at the Cape Good Food and Wine Show. This involves demonstrations and theatre of food with other major international chefs. Fortunato was on the selection panel of the Sunday Times SA Chef of the year 2007 and has been elected to the Sunday Times Food Council. In 2007 and 2008  he was one of the feature chefs on the Sunday Times / BBC Food International Food Show together with Reza Mohamed, Gino D’Acampo and Ainsley Harriot.

He also a judge at many jeune-commis chef competitions, and through the Cape wine academy has achieved his national diploma in wine. He is involved in the wine industry both from a production (as a collaborator in the award winning range of Nick and Forti’s Wines produced at Tulbagh farm Saronsberg) and retail perspective. Fortunato believes this gives him a unique perspective on wine issues.

“These projects are a direct result of my produce driven approach to cooking, which for me is an obsession….an absolutely no-compromise approach.” He has presented and regularly appears in programs on food and wine issues on SABC 2, SABC 3, Kyknet, Radio 702, Radio Today, Jacaranda FM, Radio RSG, Cape Talk and M-Net. Fortunato contributes food and/or wine articles in various national publications.

Fortunato sits on the board of the Black Tie Opera Ensemble Fund and has devoted much time, energy and funding to see this group of singers mostly from previously disadvantaged communities grow to become the resident Opera Company of the State Theatre in Pretoria. For this project he was greatly honoured to be awarded the prestigious BASA or Business Arts South Africa award for being the small business that did the most to support the arts in South Africa during 2003. Fortunato is a passionate art collector and advocate of the visual arts and is regularly called upon to do Gallery and exhibition openings.

Current projects include a cookbook and an expansion to his hugely successful chain of upmarket kitchen stores “High-End Kitchens” that caters to the professional and high-end domestic market with the opening of branches in the Cape. In October 2006 the uber trendy BICCCS (Bread, Ice-cream, Cake, Croissant, Coffee, Sandwiches!!!) opened. This funky shop is a prototype store for an Italian Gelateria and coffee bar bakery concept situated at the Waterkloof Heights Centre. The shop was the realization of a joint dream with his father Giovanni.

“I earnestly believe life should never be static or boring and you can taste the passion and happiness in my food!!”

BICCCS Waterkant opened in the Cape Quarter in trendy Die Waterkant, Cape town in October 2009 and on the main road of Franschoek in February 2010.