NEVER BURY
YOUR TALENT Panda of Pandarasie Events — Faith, Food & Thinking Out of the Box

There is a parable in Matthew 25 about a man who took his talent, dug a hole in the ground and hid it. He came back with nothing. The master called him wicked and lazy. The servants who used their talents — who invested, who took the risk — came back with double. Panda of Pandarasie Events knows that parable from the inside. He spent years with a gift for food, for beauty, for creating unforgettable experiences — and nearly let corporate life quietly bury it. He did not. And the Vaal has not been the same since.

On a beautiful rainy autumn morning, Pandarasie op die Stasie — known to everyone simply as Panda — settled into the JustGospel studio with host Carlett Badenhorst for a conversation that moved from one unforgettable platter to unlimited floral ceilings, from a naked cake disaster to a matric farewell that set the standard for every event that followed. It was funny, honest, faith-filled and very, very real.

The Name, the Brand & the Beginning

Panda has been a nickname since high school — but when the time came to launch his business in 2022, he nearly went with something else. It was actress and friend Liz Mayring who stopped him. "Don't call it Panda," she said. "You'll be lost in a sea of China websites. Call it Pandarasie." Unique. Unmistakable. Impossible to scroll past. And so Pandarasie was born — right in the sweet spot where COVID had cleared the ground and left room for something new.

Before Pandarasie, Panda was the brand ambassador for Starkeys, an international seed company. He managed garden centres, hosted TV and radio segments, showed people how to build vegetable gardens — a good job by any measure. But it was not the whole story. "God gives us talents," he said. "And sometimes you have to dig deep for them. But the time comes when you ask yourself — why am I not using this?"

"I can remember the first platter I sold. It was so exciting. And then the next minute, things just happened — and your name was there."

— Pandarasie op die Stasie

Within a few years, a friend in his inner circle put it plainly: "Panda, if I look at your brand today — it is very close to Nike, Woolworths. That niche brand. That is what Pandarasie is." Not bad for a first platter and a leap of faith.

The Gift That Was Always There

The food talent did not arrive with the business. It was already there, waiting in a hotel and catering subject at Westonaria High School, where Panda was the head boy of the hotel school stream. He excelled — fine dining, French cuisine, the full presentation of food as art. His father, a man of simpler tastes — rice, potatoes, starch in abundance — was not impressed. "He hated every minute of French cuisine," Panda laughed. "But that was in my blood, not his."

Then came London. Three years on a working visa, studying interior decorating, design and floral arrangement. That is where the other half of Pandarasie was formed — the eye for beauty, the floral arrangements, the instinct to transform a space from ordinary into extraordinary. "I love to beautify," he said simply. "To zoosh things up."

That double gift — trained eye, trained palate — is what sets Pandarasie apart. Catering, cakes, décor, events management, flowers, weddings, matric farewells, corporate functions. The Byekorf Cafeteria in Meyerton where working families can pick up a home-cooked dinner on the way home and get their evenings back. Pandarasie does not just cater for events. It creates experiences from the ground up.

The Dream With No Ceiling

Carlett offered Panda the ultimate creative brief: unlimited budget, dream function, no restrictions. What does Pandarasie look like at full power?

"The whole ceiling — full of hanging florals. A canopy of flowers above the table. And then crystals. Crystal chandeliers hanging down through the flowers. It feels like you walked into a field of abundance where there are not enough flowers to count."

— Panda

Food stations running every cuisine imaginable. Every cut of meat. Every flavour on the table. An event that does not just feed people — it overwhelms the senses with beauty before a single fork is lifted. That is the Pandarasie vision at full stretch. And the remarkable thing is that in smaller, more contained ways, Panda delivers on that vision at every single function he takes on — because he refuses to do anything less.

The Lessons That Only Come With the Falls

It would be dishonest to present Pandarasie as a flawless success story. Panda was refreshingly honest about that. "It wasn't all sunshine and roses," he said. "Every day is a journey. Every day is a new chapter."

The most memorable stumble? A birthday cake order that went very, very wrong. A client requested a "naked cake" for her son's 21st birthday. Panda, not knowing this client well and trusting the creative brief in his head, produced something that was — let us say — more literal than intended. The pastor's wife in attendance cut every slice very thin, wrapped each one in foil to take home, and said absolutely nothing to Panda until a week later. The congregation received their dessert. No one spoke of it. The pastor's wife saved the evening with discretion that deserves its own award.

"It was a D for disaster," Panda said, laughing. "But it taught me something. Communication with your client is everything. Never assume."

Never Compromise the Winning Recipe

The hardest thing Panda faces is not late nights, difficult clients or 200 unanswered WhatsApps. It is the pressure to compromise. To cut costs. To change the recipe to match someone's budget expectation. He will not do it — and the reason is theological as much as it is business.

Stewardship. That word is not accidental. Panda is not operating a secular business with a Sunday faith. He is operating a Kingdom business — one where God is recognised as the source of the creativity, the clients, the provision. "God is with us every day," he said. "He is the one instilling that amazing creativity. He is the one getting us through every day. If you don't have God, you have nothing."

God, Family & the Legacy Being Built

Behind every function is a family that shows up. His wife runs the kitchen when he is doing décor across the venue. His son loves to cook. His daughter is drawn to the décor side. His mother — who spent 35 years in catering and whose kitchen he grew up in, swearing he would never do what she did — is now part of the operation. "I grew up saying I hate this. The late nights, cooking for people. And here I am." He laughed. Because of course that is exactly how it goes with a God-given gift you try to ignore.

"When you train your children, you are giving them a skill. You are giving them something to move forward with. A legacy to carry."

— Panda

His staff, too, carry something of this. Each one is chosen because they bring something unique. Each one is celebrated for it. "I thank God every day for each one of them," he said. "That is the serving part. You serve your clients. You serve your staff. You serve through creativity. It is all part of the same thing."

You Are Enough — Now Go Use It

At the close of the interview, Panda spoke directly to every person sitting with an unused talent, a buried gift, a dream they have been talking themselves out of for years. No hedging. No inspirational clichés. Just the straight truth from a man who knows what it cost him to finally use what God gave him — and what it would have cost to leave it in the ground.

Never bury it. Never compromise it. Never let someone else's comfort level with your gift become the ceiling for what you build. Think out of the box — and then build your own box. That, in Panda's words, is what Pandarasie is.

The Vaal knows it. And after this conversation, so does everyone listening to JustGospel.

Book Pandarasie Events

Pandarasie Events offers full-service catering, cakes, event décor, floral arrangements, weddings, matric farewells, corporate functions and daily meals at Byekorf Cafeteria. Also working in conjunction with Kliprivier Country Lodge (016 100 2001) and other leading Vaal venues.

📱 068 944 5464
📸 instagram.com/pandarasie

This interview was broadcast live on JustGospel during the Pandarasie op die Stasie drive show, hosted by Carlett Badenhorst. Listen live at justgospelrtv.co.za or find the podcast on Spotify.