In 2004 Diani Smit and Anien le Roux teamed up to start the well-known Cognito Restaurant. Anien qualified as a chef at the Institute of Culinary Arts and gained her practical experience at several of the top restaurants in the country, including The French Connection and Chamonix Restaurant.

Diani has an honours degree in Communication Science, specialising in Advertising, Public Relations and Communications Research. She also gained valuable marketing and events experience managing big events on behalf of her client, British American Tobacco. It is this combination of skills that ensures that these two ladies make a winning team.

Cognito has been offering catering as part of its restaurant service for the past four years. We decided that it is only a natural progression to evolve this service into a full-time catering company available to the public, corporate companies and wine estates.