As more and more South Africans are forced to dig deeper into their pockets as the economic climate slowly chokes our cash flow, we came upon a Moneyweb article that exemplified just how bad things are getting.

It referenced the extremely difficult trading conditions for the niche brands of Famous Brands, one of them being “darling tashas”.

Our article – read here – went on to suggest how “nobody is going to tashas anymore”, but while we’re well aware that people ARE going to tashas, saying ‘nobody’ was clearly being flippant. Surely?

And, well, tashas saw the lighter side of it.

This was their response:

Dear Editor –

We feel honoured that you use the queues at tashas as a barometer for the entire South African economy. We also appreciate the need for catchy headlines. While we don’t deny that our country is in a real state, for the record, we are thankful that our business is weathering the storm and we are maintaining our turnovers.

It is a tough time for all businesses in South Africa. By motivating our staff, assuring our spaces are well maintained and look beautiful, serving the best food and making sure our customers are happy, as a team, we are committed to assuring that our business stays strong.

We are happy to report that people are still coming to tashas, and if we are lucky enough to have you as a customer, we are grateful that you might just have to wait in a queue.

Darlings, indeed.

If you have ever needed a good example of how to respond to something as cheeky as our article, there you have it.

A masterclass.