From very humble beginnings as a tiny grocery store  at the turn of the century to becoming South Africa's largest pasta manufacturer was a long road for Fatti's & Moni's, but a facinating one.
The company was born in the turbulent days fo the Witwatersrand gold rush and is as old as the city of Johannesburg itself. The Moni family came from the city of Lucca in Northern Italy where their hereditary family home, the Casa Moni, has survived to the present day. Back in the 1860"s Giovanni Moni was a successful merchant trading in olive oil, wines, chestnuts and silk. As was common in Victorian times he had a large family....three girls and six boys.

The family prospered until around 1895 when Italy was hit by a recession and a disastrous war against the Abyssinians. The Moni boys began to look to pastures greener for their livelihood. News of the ernormous wealth being discovered in the new Witwatersrand goldfields sent one of the sons, Guiseppe Moni, off to South Africa in 1896, along with many other of his countrymen.
To cater for the many hundreds of Italians this roaring and hard-drinking community, shops and businesses sprang up selling food and specialities they were accustomed to, such as macaroni, olive oil and wines from Italy. Guiseppe found his first employment attending to wine sales with one of these establishments at 63 Marshall Street. Business came to an abrupt halt with the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899.

The war still had two years to run, when in 1900, after the occupation of Johannesburg by the British, a limited number of civilians were allowed  to resume trading. Guiseppe Moni set up his own business selling imported goods from Italy, such as Parmesan chesse, Bologna suasages and pastas.
In 1904 two other members of the Moni family arrived in South Africa, Giacomo and Pietro, then only 18 years of age. In 1906 Moni Brothers was established as a private family business and, via this company, they controlled all their interests over the years.

With more Italians than ever working on the Rand, and with the British garrison still stationed in South Africa, the demand for Italian delicacies and beverages had risen sharply. So much so that Moni's established a rifle-shooting gallery and Italian club with a membership of some 400 to 500 people. Business flourished until 1913 when rioting broke out. The original JOhannesburg station was burnt to the ground, as were the offices of the Star. Troops were called out and martial law was proclaimed. within yards of the premises of the Moni brothers, pickhandled charges by mounted police were in progress and fusillades of bullets were loosed down CVommisioner Street with considerable loss of life.

In 1914 World  War I began, which made the importation of goods practically impossible. This was the deciding factor which persuaded the Moni brothers that it was time to start manufacturing their own goods locally. In 1915 the Italian Warehouse Company was registered in Johannesburg and the Monis installed their first machines at the back of their premises on the corner of Fraser and Jeppe Streets. Shortly afterwards they opened a branch in Cape Town. The war was over, but it was to be another four years before the company showed its first profits of 1 000 pounds.
Meanwhile, Luigi Fatti also arrived in South Africa via the Argentine and, in 1897, he was the sole agent for Gio & F Buitoni, at that time the largest pasta manufacturers in the world. By 1907 Fatti's was incorporated as a limited company with agencies in London and Hamburg. While a friendly rivalry existed between Fatti and the Monis, who were operating only a few yards away, Fatti decided in 1911 to steal a march on this competition, by building a big new factory. By 1917 Fatti had grown to such an extent that he had a staff of 31 people, with customers as far afield as the Belgian Congo and
British East Africa. Rivalry be tween Fatti and the Monis grew steadily keener by castting prices, expanding the premises and expanding the premises and expanding trade in the surrounding
countries.
In 1925 a peace treaty was signed between the two families which resulted in the formation of an entirely new concern, known as the United Macaroni Factories. The advertisement at the time read:
"-operating in Johannesburg and Cape Town, manufacturers of macaroni, spaghetti, vermicelli and soup pastas in many varieties and shapes. Loose and in packets." In 1930, in spite of the difficult times brought about by the Wall Street crash the previous year, the Monis opened their first wheat mill in Cape Town, to safeguard the supply of their raw materials. The company was known as the United Macaroni Factories, Bellville. The new wheat mill and macaroni factory were far ahead of anythingot its kinds in the country. Its range of products included semolina, infant breakfast foods and icecream cones as well as all the pastas. In 1931 Luigi Fatti retired from the board of his company, although he remained chairman.
It is interesting to note that during the last war, in the official records of the Director-General of War Supplies, it was mentioned that 113 tons of macaroni were sent to East Africa and the Middle East fromt he Union for comsumption by the Allied Forces. Virtually al of this was from Fatti's & Monis.
In 1953 the Moni brothers secured the controlling Fatti interest in the business, and Pietro Moni became managing director. In 1967 the large wheat mill and pasta complex was built in Isando
and pasta complex was built in Isando, and two years later the old factory in Selby was moved across to the new premises. In 1982 Tiger Oats took over the controlling interest and the United Macaroni Company became known as Fatti's & Moni's.

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