OUR HISTORY

It is speculated that Gaaitjie was built around 1855 by the fishery firm, serving as a home for a local family. The old house was built right on the rocks on the Paternoster beachfront, boasting a foundation of solid stone. The foreman of the Paternoster fishery, Mr Sampson use to live in the historic building. Hence the road leading to Gaaitjie is named after him. The building housing Gaaitjie Restaurant is also a Cape Heritage building and still belongs to the fisheries

By 1902 a full-blown lobster industry was in operation, canning and exporting lobster to France in particular.

Our family longed for a lifestyle change and getting away from the busy city of Johannesburg. In 2015 sister Chantelle, the second born of Theuns and Wilma Kruger and her husband was on holiday in Paternoster. They tried getting a reservation at Gaaitjie Restaurant but it was fully booked every day. On a random stroll in Langebaan they saw the business up for sale at an estate agent. She took a picture of the advertisement and sent it to the family stating, “How about a family venture!”. And that was the golden ticket out of Jo ’burg.