By Lauren Pybus, Creative Director & Marketing Manager, Euphoria Telecom
We're delighted to announce that Auberge Burgundy Boutique Hotel & Spa is the winner of the inaugural Euphoria Telecom No Bull Prize — our R100,000 growth-acceleration award for South African businesses that put customers first, price fairly, and do business with integrity.
The winner was announced on 1 December 2025 at the close of nominations, but we held off publishing the full story until our winner-announcement film was ready. It now is — and it does Auberge proud. Pour a coffee. Press play.
No Bull Prize Winner: Auberge Burgundy
If you've never had the pleasure of staying at Auberge, the film is worth your time on its own. It's a portrait of a small, family-run boutique hotel in the Western Cape that has built its reputation the slow way — guest by guest, detail by detail, return visit by return visit. The kind of business where you walk in feeling like a stranger and walk out feeling like you have a standing reservation.
Why Auberge Burgundy?
Our judging panel weighed every nomination against the seven things the No Bull Prize was set up to celebrate: excellent service, fair and transparent pricing, strong values and ethical behaviour, after-sales care that delivers, consistency and follow-through, branding that matches the promise, and an exemplary customer experience. Auberge Burgundy quietly aced all seven.
It's family-run. The owners are on site, on first-name terms with returning guests, and personally invested in every detail of the experience — from the breakfast to the spa to the way the rooms are turned. That's a business model that doesn't scale unless the people running it genuinely love what they do. Auberge does.
It's customer-centric in the most South African way: warm, unfussy, generous. Pricing is fair, the website tells you exactly what you're getting, and the after-stay care extends beyond check-out. Reviews aren't mostly five stars — they're almost all five stars. That doesn't happen by accident.
Most of all, Auberge Burgundy is the kind of place that shows what "no bull" looks like in practice — small business, big heart, no shortcuts. Exactly the brief.
A quick recap: how the No Bull Prize started
We launched the No Bull Prize on 4 September 2025 at Euphoria Telecom's 15th birthday celebration at the Victoria Cocktail Lounge in Camps Bay. South African broadcaster and comedian Darren 'Whackhead' Simpson co-launched the campaign with us — and to say he embraced the brief is an understatement. He spent the night running prank calls on guests and on the Camps Bay Promenade through Miles, our brand mascot — a fully working Euphoria business phone built into a remote-control car. Watching Whackhead chase pedestrians along the promenade with a phone on wheels, filming their reactions, was the kind of brand moment you can't manufacture. It set the tone for the whole campaign. The No Bull Prize page has Whackhead's full launch video — well worth a look if you missed it.
Why Euphoria backed this
The No Bull Prize is part of a wider thread that runs through everything Euphoria Telecom puts its name to. Our co-founder George Golding has a phrase he repeats — the customer is our CEO — and 16 years on, it still describes how the company actually operates. The No Bull Prize was a way of pointing that lens outward and celebrating other South African businesses doing the same thing in their own way.
It also sits alongside Euphoria's broader CSI work: our long-running partnership with Reach for Recovery and the Remember to Think Pink campaign, our sponsorship of TokaiMTB and the Vasbyt mountain-biking trail, and the Gift of Sight Invitational. Different formats, same idea — small, deliberate, ethical contributions to a country we like operating in. The No Bull Prize was the version of that ethos pointed at SA's small-business community.
A genuine thank-you to every business that was nominated
Auberge Burgundy was the winner — but the campaign as a whole was a love letter to the dozens of independent South African businesses that were nominated by the public. Every nomination came with a story. Reading them was, frankly, one of the best things our marketing team has done in years.
If your business is on the list below, take a moment with this. Someone in South Africa thought enough of you to put your name forward in a national award — unsolicited, with no benefit to themselves. That's a thing worth celebrating quietly.
The full list of 2025 No Bull Prize nominees:
Sustainomics · Inyameko Trading 445cc · Hopscotch Travel · Tr Carwash · Recruitment Matters Africa · Pretty Waters Institute · Galeboe Professional Services · Pura Beverages · Qtelecom · Formsxpress · Racepace Sportswear · Risimi Consulting · K5 Business South Africa · Khubu Stocks And Ceilings · Ukhamba Wellness · Glow Hair Design · Isquared Technologies (Pty) Ltd · Sa Roof Rats · Dreamsmiths Digital (Pty) Ltd · Strong Life Billing · Chabi's Ginger · African Kulture Sounds · Saben · The Living Collective · Incredible Cleaning Services · Cape Removals · Daily Discounts · Dintletse Business Solutions · Bmrh Fast Foods · Pedipedi Investments · Nm Plumbing · Debt Therapy · Meals On Wheels Community Services South Africa · Acdc Express Centurion · African Trading Supplies · Brash Burgers · Borruso's · Shenanigans · Caprice / Victoria – Camps Bay · Future Finance · Recruitmymom · Tiisetsang Enterprise Pt Ltd · Cg Branding & Signage · Bloo Money · Luxliv Property Group · Senza Cosmetics · Baaa Health · Little Luxury Water Filters And Coolers · Steps Rugby Academy · Big Brave · Brenco Gardens & Maintenance · Martingraphix · Digital Vexospark · Maskscara · Sunshine Cinema · Van Blommenstein Butchery · New Image Beauty Spa · Rpm Services · Mce Solutions · Vuyo's Photo Booth.
And to the nominator — a R5,000 Takealot voucher
The person who nominated Auberge Burgundy walked away with a R5,000 voucher from Takealot — one of Euphoria Telecom's longest-standing customers. We use Takealot vouchers as our reward currency in a few of our public offers for one simple reason: every South African we know can find R5,000 worth of useful in a Takealot basket.
A toast to ethical small business — and a hint at what's next
The No Bull Prize 2025 was the inaugural edition. We hope to repeat it. The mood around the campaign — among nominators, nominees, judges and the team — was warm enough that we'd be slightly daft not to. Watch this space for what year two looks like.
In the meantime — book a stay with Auberge Burgundy Boutique Hotel & Spa if you ever get the chance. They earned every bit of this. You can read more about the prize on the Euphoria Telecom No Bull Prize page, which carries the full nominee list, the FAQ, and Whackhead's launch video.
Congratulations again to the team at Auberge Burgundy. And thank you to every business who was nominated — keep doing what you do.
About the author
Lauren Pybus
Creative Director & Marketing Manager, Euphoria Telecom
