“If you can’t handle the business end of the deal, then there’s no need for you to be in business,” says Judy Mikida, founder of Mikida’s Garden Kitchen. “You have to know how your money is coming in and going out." She adds
Mikida's Garden Kitchen is situated in Kigali's most high-end suburb - Nyarutarama, an area that attracts high-end hotels, restaurants, bars and luxurious centres. And this is where we sat with Mikida, a bubbly yet tenacious business woman running a Kenyan inspired African restaurant in Kigali.
“We are an African restaurant, so we wanted it to be authentic,” Mikida explains. “I didn’t want to run any restaurant that you’d find anywhere else in the cities like London.”
The menu is intentionally Kenyan. It’s where customers come for nyama choma done right, local chicken wet fry, and matumbo, a dish that has quietly become a customer favorite.
This isn’t food made to follow trends. It’s food made to reflect culture, familiarity, and identity. And that same intention carries into how the business operates day to day.
The business side of passion
Great food may bring people in, but it’s the numbers that keep a restaurant running. Behind the great menu and the flow of delighted diners is a constant need for clear visibility of what money is coming in and going out, and whether the business is truly working. Without a clear view of the numbers, even a well-loved restaurant can quietly slip into trouble.
Why simplicity matters
For Judy Mikida and her team, control doesn’t come from complex systems or layers of reporting. It comes from being able to see what’s happening, transaction by transaction, without friction.
Pesapal solutions bring that clarity to the back end of the business. Card payments are easy to track, simple to audit, and straightforward to reconcile. Each transaction can be matched directly to a bill, removing reconciliations chaos and saving time.
For every business, there is Pesapal
Mikida's Garden Kitchen story is one many business owners know well; deep pride in what they offer customers, paired with the responsibility of keeping the business financially healthy.
Pesapal doesn’t change the food, the culture, or the vision. It supports what already exists, by connecting business owners to what matters to them; that is delivering financial services that drive growth. Such includes making the business back-end easy to manage via simple dashboards, easy solutions integration with existing business systems, business financing and many more. Because when the numbers make sense, business owners can focus on what they do best.
