The sale of Nathan Kirsh’s company, Jetro Restaurant Depot Business, for R500 million was recently announced. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index noted this as his biggest asset. After the sale, he was regarded as richer than the well-known Johann Rupert.
The Bloomberg Index now ranks him as the 197th richest person in the world, one of only three South Africans on the list. Rupert is, however, still ahead of him at nr. 151 and below him is Nicky Oppenheimer at nr. 216.
Mr. Nathan Kirsch visited the King Korn plant in Potchefstroom during 2018. He is with Mr. Khulekani Sibindi, then manager of the plant. Photo: King Foods
Potch boy
Nathan Kirsh was born in Potchefstroom in 1932 to Dveire and William Kirsh. Dveire came from Lithuania in 1926 to marry William Kirsh. Nathan was one of four children.
William and Dveire Kirsh. Photo: Potchefstroom Museum: Jewish Community Collection*
The family lived at 94 Berg Street (later Van Riebeeck Street, now Peter Mokaba). It now houses the dental practice of Drs. Dennis, Linda and Len du Toit and Jaco Spangenberg. According to Dr. Dennis du Toit, the house was acquired in 1985 by former colleagues, Doctors Greyling, Fourie and Botha from the Kirsh family. This was after the passing of Mrs. Dveire Kirsh in 1984. The vintage core of the house with its high ceilings and wooden floor still exists. Photo: PM
William and Dveire Kirsh had four children: Solly, Natie, Issie and Edith. Photo: PM
Nathan matriculated at the Potchefstroom High School for Boys in 1949. He later said that he encountered little antisemitism in Potchefstroom: “It was a very comfortable and good environment to grow up in.” He then studied at the University of the Witwatersrand to earn a B.Com.
The official opening of the Potchefstroom High School for Boys on 31 January 1905. Photo: Potchefstroom High School for Boys
Nathan Kirsh stands far right in the 3rd row. This is the U19 team of the Wits Rugby Football Club from 1950. Photo: PM
Nathan married Frances Herr, also a member of a well-known Potchefstroom Jewish family and they have three children. The photo shows Nathan, Frances and the first two of their three children. PM.
Kirsh founded first malt factory
William Kirsh founded the first malt factory in Potchefstroom on the north-eastern corner of Lombard (James Moroka) and Rivier Street in 1921. The same year Bernard Levy also set up a malt factory in Du Plooy Street.
In 1927 Kirsh bought the buildings of a defunct co-operative at the Sackville siding (later Safarcamp), near the Potchefstroom Dam and moved his malt factory there. Bernard Levy moved his factory in 1928 to an area west of the town. This became the nucleus of what would later be known as Potchindustria. This township was declared in 1965.
This advertisement of “Wm. Kirsh” appeared in a brochure to promote Potchefstroom, published by the City Council in 1950.
William Kirsh passed away in 1948 at the age of 59. Mrs. Dveire Kirsh managed the factory on her own until 1953 when she was joined by Nathan.
By 1967 Levy’s malt factory was already established at the current premises of the King Food plant in Forssman Street. That year the Levy and Kirsh concerns were amalgamated.
Josh Levy left the Levy & Kirsh concern in 1967 to form a company to distribute grains.
In 1969 the distinctive packaging and the King Korn logo was introduced. Photo: King Foods
By the late 1980s, through numerous transactions Tiger Brands became the owner of the King Food plant, as the malt plant in Forssman Street, Potchindustria was then known. By 1987 the King Food plant was regarded as the largest malt producer in the world.
An aerial view of the King Food yard approximately during the 1950s and 1960s. Photo: King Food
The King Food silos, advertising King Korn, is one of the distinctive views of Potchefstroom.
Ventured on his own
In 1958 Nathan ventured on his own when he founded a corn milling and malt business in Swaziland, now Eswatini. Profits from this business were used to buy his father’s business in Potchefstroom in 1959.
After he sold this to Tiger Brands, he bought a food distributor. He turned this into a wholesale cash and carry concern. The article on dailyinvestor.com noted: “Under the laws of the time, white business owners were not allowed to operate in black townships. Kirsh supplied goods to black shopkeepers who could tap into the surging informal economy.”
In 1986 he turned his back on South Africa after he had a run-in with Sanlam. Read more about the details of what happened at the links listed below under “further reading”.
By the time he already launched Jetro Cash & Carry in the United States in 1976. “Scarred by the Sanlam squeeze, Kirsh kept out of the public eye and vowed to keep control of his business interests in private partnerships, rather than publicly listed companies,” wrote dailyinvestor.com.
Apart from the Jetro Restaurant Depot LLC, which he now sold, he has private equity investments and property on four continents.
Kirsh holds dual South-African and Swazi citizenship and resides in Eswatini.
Nathan (left) with King Mswati of Swaziland (now Eswatini) in 1989. Photo: PM
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Kirsh .
* In 1992 an extensive exhibition was compiled to reflect the history of the Jewish community of Potchefstroom. Photos were donated by many families. Electronic copies of these photos are kept at the Potchefstroom Museum. After the first mentioned the source of the photo will only be indicated as “PM”.
