Most introductions go nowhere. This one became a four-day international food and music festival, landing in Cape Town in April 2027, and a business relationship that now spans two continents.

Something we often hear from members is that they are having conversations, but not the right ones.

They are in meetings, making calls, travelling, and talking to different people, and yet nothing quite connects. This is usually because the person they need to talk to is not in the room, and there is no obvious way to find them.

That is the problem The Lekker Network was created to solve.  Gastro Beats is what that looks like when it works.

Why Tyron Swanepoel’s South Africa Expansion Kept Stalling

Tyron Swanepoel has spent around a decade in Singapore, moving from sports marketing agency work with Endeavour IMG into a role as Head of Asia Pacific at The Wolfpack, with investments across restaurants and large-scale events.

He was looking to expand the company’s owned assets into new markets, and South Africa was on the list. So he did the obvious thing and started talking to people in the market.

The conversations went nowhere useful.

“It was difficult to align with some people in terms of where they were trying to take their business,” is how he describes that period.

His problem highlighted the value of putting the right people in the right rooms and how one introduction can make all the difference. 

How Nic Latouf Introduced Tyron Swanepoel to Irina Vlad

Nic Latouf, one of the co-founders of The Lekker Network, listened to what Tyron was trying to build. Then he connected Tyron with a member in Cape Town named Irina Vlad.

Irina had come up through radio at Primedia Broadcasting before founding her own media agency, Ivy Media, in 2020. She had connected with Nic through the network the year before. 

Ask either of them what was said in that first conversation, and you get the same answer: essentially nothing. “I don’t know how much you remember of that conversation, Ty,” Irina says.

The exchange that has since produced an international festival, a cross-continental business relationship, and conversations with tourism bodies and the City of Cape Town was, at the time, entirely unremarkable to both people having it.

Why this introduction landed when others did not

By December, Tyron was in Cape Town, and Irina and her team took him straight to venues, driving around the City, standing in empty spaces, and working out where a festival could physically happen.

“We literally would say we are the Singaporean version and the South African version of each other,” Irina says.

Tyron describes the same phenomenon from the Singapore side. A colleague known for interrogating a deal before agreeing to anything got on a twenty-minute call with Irina and came off it convinced.

What made the difference was a shared outlook: two people on opposite sides of the world who approached business the same way and instantly recognised it in each other. That recognition is what a curated network is for. It clearly showcases what happens when you put the right people in the same room.

What Is Gastro Beats? Singapore’s Festival Comes to Cape Town

Gastro Beats is a food, music, and lifestyle festival that has been held in Singapore for five years. 

Twenty-five days, known restaurants and sought-after ones side by side, established artists and aspiring ones on the same stages, and a genuine family day out running through the middle of it. 

The South African edition runs from 8 to 11 April 2027 at Green Point Cricket Club in Cape Town.

Five Singaporean restaurants participating in the Singapore festival will be in Cape Town with their own chefs and ingredients. Then it runs the other way, five South African restaurants and vendors travel to Singapore for the June festival.

Alongside the food sit the mentorship programmes. In Singapore this year, a Sony Music programme for musicians and Gastro Buds for aspiring chefs. The same is planned for South Africa.

For Irina, that is one of the reasons she’s passionate about this event. “The growth of these potential artists and chefs, growing something from this kind of platform”. 

Further markets are already being discussed for the following year.

The Challenges: Flying Chefs, Ingredients and Teams From Singapore to Cape Town

Neither of them romanticises the work involved.

The twenty-five-day free-entry model does not translate to the South African market, which is precisely why the partnership was necessary. As Tyron explained: “It’s not a based formula, which is why you need the right people on board.”

Venue and dates first. Followed by the length, ticketing, target market, location, and media partners. Then, the logistics still ahead of them, flying teams and chefs from Singapore, sourcing or importing the specific ingredients those recipes need, and building prep kitchens.

From Festival Partnership to Cross-Continental Business Ecosystem

The conversations now include real estate, digital agency work, restaurant openings in the South African market, and business flowing from South Africa into Singapore rather than only the other direction. 

A partnership between two people has become an ecosystem between two teams, in two cities, on two continents.

Why Tyron and Irina Wanted to Share Their Story

Irina is straightforward about why they agreed to this conversation at all.

As Irina put it, “That’s exactly why we wanted to chat and share the story. To say, look where that one intro you made happen between us is. Look where it’s going.”

Ten months from a WhatsApp group, neither of them can quite recall.

If you’re sitting on a message you’ve been meaning to send to someone in the network, this is your sign to send it. 

Gastro Beats Sponsorship and Partnership Opportunities

Gastro Beats South Africa runs from 8 to 11 April 2027 at Green Point Cricket Club, Cape Town.

The team is in active conversations with airline, hotel, beverage, and brand partners, as well as with South African food, drink, and retail businesses interested in testing products at scale or expanding into the Singapore market. Corporate packages are available for the first two days of the festival. 

If any of that is relevant to you or your business, get in touch, and we will make the introduction.

And if you are a member sitting on a message you have been meaning to send to someone in this network, this is your sign to send it.

Success Stories is a Lekker Network series that is a collection of stories about the impact our members are making locally and globally, often sparked by a connection, relationship, or opportunity that the network helped create. 

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