“Your Hard Work Paid Off”: Mzansi Inspired by Woman Who Left a Mop and Built Food Empire in Belgium

• Fikile Zungu spent ten years working as a cleaner in South Africa before her life took a turn even she never saw coming
• She was promoted from domestic worker to house cook for the South African Ambassador in Brussels after six dedicated years
• Zungu now has over 560 000 Instagram followers and has built the Maid to Cook brand from her kitchen in Belgium

A Soweto woman with no degree, no culinary training, and no clear direction turned years of scrubbing floors into a full-blown food brand.

Fikile Zungu, known online as Fikz, went from domestic worker to one of South Africa’s most beloved food creators. She is based in Brussels, Belgium, where her journey from maid to cook literally became her brand name.

Zungu spent a decade working as a cleaner in South Africa between 1999 and 2009. She had no tertiary education and carried the full financial weight of her household on her shoulders. Joy was not part of the job description. Everything changed when her partner asked her and her children to relocate to Belgium in 2010.

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From mopping floors to cooking for an ambassador

Landing in Brussels did not hand Zungu a fresh start on a silver platter. She leaned on the South African community at the country’s embassy to find work. They helped her secure a position as a domestic worker for the South African Ambassador. She worked in that household for six years. Her dedication and hunger to learn more caught attention. By 2017, she had been promoted from maid to house cook for the Ambassador. That was the moment everything changed for Zungu.

She began posting her meals on a Facebook group while still working in the embassy. South Africans fell in love with her food and her story.

The brand that built itself

Zungu called herself a house cook, not a chef. That became her biggest selling point. She launched her brand, Maid to Cook. She then wrote a recipe book titled Cooking with Fikz, a banting-focused collection she put together with her daughter, Katlego and a man named Thuso Tshiloane, who believed in her vision. She described the book as completely homemade with no professional publishing help.

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The brand took off across every platform. Zungu built a following of over 560,000 on Instagram, hundreds of thousands more on Facebook, and a loyal TikTok community that tunes in to watch her cook from her Belgian kitchen.

See the Facebook post below:

Mzansi reacts to Fikz’s journey

Briefly News compiled some comments from proud South Africans below.

Mandisa Zikalala commented:

“You are going far, mommy. May God continue to bless you. I love you.“

Sonia Mokgothu wrote:

"Aw! Our Chef Fikzozo, congratulations sister, I was goosebumping. The wings are yours Fikzozo and the sky belongs to no one.“

Mpho Maya Singo said:

“My girl, congratulations, Mama. Your dreams are valid.“

Ntsiky Nomsa Magubane noted:

“My favourite chef. I love you so much, my sister. Yoh!“

Dolly Mhlongo commented:

“Congratulations, your hard work paid off, maid to cook, and now you're the boss.“

Tebogo Sebalane said:

“Congrats sisi, you deserve it all. It's been a long time coming.“

More articles about chefs

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• Mzansi cracked jokes after a visiting chef claimed criminals stole Cape Town’s potholes, leaving unusually smooth roads.
• A South African chef shared a viral video after challenging herself to buy a meal for four at Woolworths for just R150.

Source: Briefly News