Mrs. Gbemisola Olajide-Oladele is the founder/Chief Executive Officer of Popular Restaurant and Catering Services, a one-stop-shop for indoor and outdoor catering services. The lawyer-turned caterer/food vendor said the business established in April, last year, “targets customers who are lovers of good food served in a clean environment.” She shares the intriguing story of how she turned her dream of a restaurant that will give people the aroma of food prepared at home into a thriving enterprise with plans to build a chain of eateries beyond its location in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, with Assistant Editor LUCAS AJANAKU.
The passion was so over-powering she had to retire from the services of Ekiti State University as a Principal Assistant Registrar/Head of Legal Unit last year to give expression to her natural craving for the aroma of food prepared at home.
As it turned out, Popular Restaurant and Catering Services, an indoor and outdoor catering services outfit, which Mrs. Gbemisola Olajide-Oladele, established in April, last year, to feed her passion for home-made meals has blossomed into a one-stop-shop for indoor and outdoor catering services.
Located on Owolabi Street, opposite Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Adebayo, Ado Ekiti, Popular Restaurant and Catering Services caters for the needs of workers and others who may feel like eating out for a change of taste. It also renders outdoor catering services.
Gbemisola, who is a lawyer, having been called to the bar 18 years ago, recalled that when she was working with Wemabod Estates Limited, then as a middle level staff member, before her eventual voluntary retirement from Ekiti State University (EKSU), she and her co-workers used to switch from one restaurant to another looking for food that would meet their taste.
Gbemisola’s story: “When I was working with Wemabod Estates Limited, a real estate solutions provider, then as a middle level staff member, we used to switch from one restaurant to another looking for food that would meet our taste. That homely taste was usually missing. I then started dreaming of a restaurant that will give people the aroma of food prepared at home.
“That dream focused on Lagos where I thought people could engage me to cook different soups for them for storage and apportionment to meet their needs for a reasonable length of time. However, God’s plan is different from that of man. Here I am with my restaurant located in Ado Ekiti.”
The lawyer-turned caterer/food vendor told The Nation that her spouse was also instrumental to her initial motivation and her decision to pursue her dream. “My husband built up my confidence with the way he used to appreciate my food anytime I cook for him at home. He is always saying it jocularly that you need to operate a restaurant with this your cooking prowess and the motivation started coming.
“And as a Management Consultant too, he’s always telling me that salary is what an employer pays to someone to forget his or her dream. All these put together, motivated me. So, to the glory of God and the support of my loving husband, I am the founder of Popular Restaurant and Catering Services,” Gbemisola said.
Quite humble, unassuming yet resourceful, meek and gregarious, Gbemisola, who is from a very humble background, being the first child in a family of five, however, did not completely abandon the legal profession.
“I do little of legal services for now with emphasis on properties,” she told The Nation, adding that she had been coping very well juggling between her legal services and her new-found love i.e. restaurant and catering services.
Interestingly, since last year, when Gbemisola threw her hat in the catering/food vending ring, she has never looked back, encouraged by the obvious values she has been able to bring to the table.
“I feel fulfilled being on my own. That pride of ownership is always there any day, anytime. I call the shots here and to the glory of God, I am an employer of labour irrespective of the size of my workforce,” she said.
Gbemisola must have acquired her entrepreneurial streak, despite being a legal practitioner, from her parents who were quite industrious as traders. And this must also be why she does not feel intimidated, even by men who are also making incursion into restaurant business.
“There is enough space to operate and the market for food is so wide that it will take time for anyone to intimidate another. And with my background as a lawyer, I will not submit to intimidation from anybody,” she asserted.
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Gbemisola also said interestingly, restaurant business is still dominated by women, though some men are beginning to make incursions into the field.
For aspiring women entrepreneurs, Gbemisola has these pieces of advice: “They (women) should come out of the box, think outside the box and tap into the available opportunities.
“They should think about having multiple strings of income to support their salary and be focused and honest. Most importantly, they should build their homes so as to have the support of their spouses.
She spoke from her experience. According to Gbemisola, her husband has been showing maximum understanding and giving her the necessary support. All her children are also with their own families. “We now have empty nest and my husband has been showing maximum understanding and support. We both eat at the restaurant,” she stated.
Encouraged by what she has achieved in a remarkably short time, Gbemisola is already considering expanding the frontiers of her food business. “I started small, but I am actually thinking big. I dream of a chain of eateries that will expand beyond Ekiti State in the next five years,” she divulged.
The budding food entrepreneur, however, admitted that running a flourishing business in Nigeria is no tea party. “It is quite frustrating doing business in this part of the world with multiple taxes from state and local governments coupled with the dwindling economic fortune of Nigeria,” she lamented.
Gbemisola also said since she started the business, the geometrical progression in the cost of food items has made it difficult to have fixed prices for the food items that she sells. According to her, it is becoming harder for Nigerians to afford good food, because fuel and transportation costs and food are competing for the little income that people earn.
“We need to be sincere with ourselves; the astronomical rise in the cost of food items has not really helped restaurant operators. Good food will definitely attract good money,” she stated, asking: “How many people can afford to pay for good food?”
The entrepreneur, who put the blame on the doorstep of soaring food inflation, however, expressed delight over President Bola Tinubu’s recent declaration of a state of emergency in the food sector. “Nothing less could have been done at this crucial time. But the declaration should be matched with action soon,” she said.
However, Gbemisola has found ingenious ways of navigating the prevailing harsh business environment in the country. “We have been coping by introducing innovation into our services such as cooking for the busy corporate/career women especially soups and engaging in outdoor catering services to augment our business income,” she said.
She further said in Popular Restaurant and Catering Services: “We have maintained the quality for selected individuals who are not willing to compromise what goes into their mouth and to the glory of God we are afloat. Our targets are customers who are lovers of good food served in a clean environment.”
It is easy to see why Gbemisola’s decision to veer into the food service, beyond feeding her passion, makes a lot of sense. According to reports, the food service market was valued at $2323.29 billion in 2021, and is poised to grow from $2540.05 billion in 2022 to $5194.6 billion by 2030.
The market is projected to grow at a Compound Aggregate Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.76 per cent between this year and 2030. Back in 2016, the Association of Fast Food and Confectioners of Nigerian (AFFCON), an umbrella body of Quick Service Restaurants (QSR), also revealed that the Nigerian food industry is estimated to be worth over N1 trillion.
According to the association, the fast food segment accounted for over N250 billion, with the group saying it expected the figures to keep growing, Gbemisola and other entrepreneurs in that space to compete for a share of that huge food service market.