 Claudia Giannoccaro is a Chef and owner of Salvation
Café.
 She comes from a family that has owned restaurants,
with her mother starting Doodles in Cape Town with
friends and her Italian father & grandparents also
owned several restaurants.
 Even though she grew up around restaurants, she
never wanted to own a restaurant, instead cooking &
owning a restaurant all happened by pure “accident.”
 Before she opened Salvation Café in 2006, she worked
on luxury sailing yachts &aski chalets in Colorado,
USA, as a Steward.
 When the chef fell ill on the yacht she worked on,
Claudia jumped in and cooked for the owner, who liked
what she made, and the rest is history.
 Claudia was not a trained chef and had to figure things
out as she went and before long she became a private
chef who cooked for wealthy people.
 After working as a private chef and travelling the
world on luxury sailing yachts for nearly 10 years, she
was longing to work on land.
 One of her guests was Jonathan Oppenheimer, who
was travelling with his wife Jennifer and when they
mentioned that they were looking for a chef for their
home back in Johannesburg, Claudia took it as her
opportunity to come back home.
 She worked for the Oppenheimers for nearly 2 years
before starting Salvation Café, which will be turning 16
years old this October.