South African car salesman crowned 2025 boerewors champion
From selling cars to making sausages: Roberto-Rui Agrela celebrates his 2025 Championship Boerewors victory.
A second-hand car salesman from Paarl has defied the odds to become South Africa’s newest boerewors champion.
Roberto-Rui Agrela, who works in the motor trade, walked away with the coveted title at the 2025 Championship Boerewors Competition. His victory earned him a brand-new Toyota Fortuner 2.4 GD-6 and R20,000 in prize money.
With no formal culinary background, Agrela beat thousands of hopefuls in a national search for the country’s ultimate boerie recipe. The annual showdown, hosted at Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront, narrowed down 2,358 entries to just 10 finalists before Agrela was announced as South Africa’s top sausage maker.
Remarkably, this was his very first attempt at creating a boerewors recipe. “I didn’t even taste my own boerewors until the final round,” he said. “I just decided to take a chance against chefs who do this every day, and somehow it worked out. It still feels unreal.”
Despite being new to the competition, Agrela has always enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen and around the braai. His winning recipe will now be produced and sold nationwide at Checkers stores, giving South Africans across the country a chance to taste his creation.
“I love cooking and playing with spices, but I never imagined being called South Africa’s boerewors champion,” Agrela said. “It’s crazy to think that when people pick up a Championship Boerewors at Checkers, they’ll actually be buying my recipe.”
As for plans, Agrela isn’t ruling out entering the contest again if given the chance.
