The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Food Business

  • Exploring untapped opportunities in food business

    An international trade show, Food and Beverage West Africa exhibition, which focused on improving the Nigerian food industry, has ended in Lagos.

    The three-day event provided business opportunities for retailers, manufacturers, suppliers and distributors to network for more market access. The exhibition, the maiden edition, was organised by BtoB Events. It attracted about 150 exhibitors from 20 countries with over 2, 000 attendees.

    Food, groceries, food processing equipment, beverages, catering and hospitality sectors, and others displayed at the event. The expo ran through June 18-20.

    BtoB Events Managing Director, Jamie Hill, explained that the exhibition was an avenue for Nigerian business owners to expand their food businesses across the country and export to the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS).

    He also noted that it was a medium to assist the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

    “We need to keep investing in Agriculture and in our SMEs. With this yearly event, they hope to improve their expansion on the market and work towards the long term goal of increasing local production and exports from Nigeria.

    Read Also: Lagos fair to showcase food, drink opportunities

    “It is a business to business platform being the largest food and beverage trade exhibition that creates opportunities for global food businesses to come together in West Africa and meet partners and discuss new business goals,” he added.

    The event, which eld at Landmark Centre, Victoria Island, Food and Beverage West Africa exhibition enabled participants to shop from varieties of products at discounted prices. It also afforded them free practice sessions and on-site tasting of food and drinks.

    It was also an opportunity for them to have a first hand information from the makers, know how to use some items and ingredients and also got some healthy tips about the products.

    A participant, Mrs Chika Davies, who has a passion for culinary activities, learning some tips which she would explore in her home was pleasing to her.

    Some of the exhibitors commended the food expo, saying it afforded entrepreneurs, who want to go into food business to see the opportunities that lie there.

    Beyond the business benefits of the exhibition, they explained that there were still varieties of food that are yet to be explored given that agricultural products can be used to satisfy various needs.

    They noted that such platforms like food exhibitions to expose people to different kinds of foods, ingredients, how to use the ingredients, how to make beverages and prepare some foods.

    Deputy Manager (Exports), of Shangarila Private Limited, Bilal Ahmed, an exhibitor from Pakistan, noted that there are still basic knowledge for food that people are yet to know.  He said from his interaction with shoppers, he realised that there were some food ingredients, which people either do not know about or do not know they can be used in different ways.

    Likewise, Tolaro Global Director-General, Serge Kponou, a Benin Republic based firm, explained that Cashew can be used beyond just chewing the fruit.

    He highlighted the uses of cashew as a basic food item for every household which can be used as a spice for different foods, used in making soup and also used as milk.   He said it was a nutritious and healthy food, which many are not aware of.

    At the event, Nigerian businesses accounted for a third of the exhibitors. While other businesses from Pakistan, India, Benin Republic, South Africa, Morrocco, Kenya and others.

    The event also enabled registration of new members into the Restaurant and Food Services Proprietors Association of Nigeria (REFSPAN).

     

  • ‘Why we prefer to sell at night’

    Ogegbo Taiwo AbdulAzeez mirrors the interesting lifestyle of late night food vendors on Lagos Island

    Food business is big business anywhere in the world. Lagos, Nigeria, is no different. However hard the economy may get, or even the hard-biting recession, food business is one business that will always thrive, regardless. It does not matter whether the starving man is broke or not, after all, ‘man must wack’, like they say in the local parlance. Also, hunger has no respect for time, which is why food vendors are available at any hour and time in cities like Lagos – late nights inclusive.

    In Ogba, Ikeja, Ojuelegba and especially Lagos Island, food vendors can be found meeting their customers’ need with assorted delicacies. Whether the customer wants rice and salad, or he is hankering after any of the swallows, the food vendors are available between seven in evening and six in the evening. They open for business at 5pm and close 6am, to return again at sunset.Their main clients rage from motor transport workers, workers who work late into the night or do night shifts, and night crawlers in general.

    Berkeley Street, Lagos Island is one of the streets where you have such nocturnal food vendors. Her name is Molewu Basirat, widely known as Iya Basit. She is one of the popular food vendors in the area and has been in the business for 12 years. Pausing amidst her busy schedule to respond to this reporters enquiries, Iya Basit said, “I come here every night from 7:00pm till 2:00am. On Sundays, I come in the morning hours till night and this is the best day for business for me. I sell all types of rice delicacies, spaghetti, beans, porridge, pounded yam and white soup, semo, amala, asaro, salad, etc. I dont usually have leftovers and I make gains. The prices depend on what the customer wants. Meat, like chicken, is from N150  N200.”

    Asked why she prefers to sell at night, rather than the conventional daytime, Iya Basit’s response was, “We dont come here in the daytime because we sometimes have functions and events. But between 6:00pm and 7:00pm, we are already open here. And we only leave when customers stop coming, and that cannot be earlier than 1:00am. So, usually, we leave this place around 1:30am.

    ” We do have security challenges, because the police sometimes come around to quiz our customers, but we try to talk to them to leave our customers alone. Sometimes the people around think our customers are thieves or yahoo boys because they are mostly guys. So, we constantly have to talk to the Police around, as well as the people around, to leave them alone because they have only come to eat.

    One of Iya Basit’s customers, Rasheed Ajibola, who waited patiently through this interview, while food was being prepared, said: “I come here almost every day because I love their food. Sometimes, I come earlier (than 11pm) because I live

    around. Their food is very good and keeps improving.”

    Another customer, Azeezat said she patronises the woman once in a while because her food is very delicious. She comes around mostly whenever she is not able to do her cooking herself.

    It was 11pm, but there was no indication that the milling crowd in the area was going to thin out anytime soon. One question that popped up in the mind of this reporter as he took in the whole scenario, was ‘how do the vendors cope with perpetual sleepless nights? How do they cope with the stress of staying awake virtually every day?’

    Olayinka Funke, another late night food vendor provides an answer.

    “I do not feel sleepy at all, not to talk of falling asleep. I’m used to it already. To tell the truth, I even get energised the more when I think of the money to be made. Besides, Lagos is a big city that never sleeps. Though it is not easy, but with the help of God, I have become used to it and it has become easier.

  • Building a successful food business

    Building a successful food business

    Highly sought Executive Officer of IbomSoups, a niche catering brand with headquarters in Lagos, Mrs Itoro Effiong-Bright, popularly called Chef, tells of how her ability to cook 60 types of meals has brought her fame and money. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    THE Executive Officer of Ibom Soups, a niche catering brand with headquarters in Lagos, Mrs  Itoro Effiong-Bright, comes from a highly successful and illustrious business lineage. With a distinguished educational background, she always  dreamed to be a banker. She wanted to be one so she could get to wear lovely suits. She bagged a degree in Banking and Finance from University of Uyo,Akwa Ibom State.

    But  in her heart, she was contending with a passion for cooking.  As she explained, while assisting with her mum in the market many years ago, she saw a gap – professionals and entrepreneurs struggling to meet up with work as well as home demands. After office hours, it was not uncommon to see men and women, young and old stop by the market in their hundreds to pick up food items for themselves and their families. She found out it was challenging for working couples to cook since they had no  time. While this was a challenge, she also saw a business opportunity  that was not explored.

    She figured out she should carve a niche  if she started a business that not only  provided  ready-to-eat pot-sized meals but also in ready-to cook ingredients, mostly of Nigerian origin.

    Though this was a burning business opportunity, after graduation, she took up employment with the biggest telecoms operator in Nigeria. While enjoying the perks of a lucrative job, Mrs  Effiong-Bright was not fulfilled. Her love for cooking  was so much. She resigned her employment to launch her catering business.

    The trade-off was an expensive one. It was like leaving certainty to the unknown.

    Mrs Itoro Effiong-Bright went through challenges, such as lack of finances, working alone and fears of how people would respond to her food.  It was after participating in Nigerian government’s entrepreneurship scheme ‘YOUWIN’ that she secured some funds to jump start her business.

    Mrs Itoro Effiong-Bright went for meals that will give her clients a satisfaction of having homemade meals. The response was instant and her customer base rose.  Her love for food, combined with detailed and thorough industry knowledge, is helping her to  deliver phenomenal experience at a price which doesn’t create a hole in the pocket. With Ibom soups,the company is rewriting  the rules of food  business where one  can now eat quality food at reasonable prices  and the  company’s business strategy is geared towards  developing brand loyalty that makes people keep coming back for more   excellent food services.

    At least 60 types of soups are prepared for the menu and delivered to the doorsteps of the clients using the fastest means of transport, and motorcycles.

    Everything on the menu is deliciously honest. The food is straight from the heart, inspired by the dark abyss of gluttony.

    Within a short period, Ibom Soups has become a behemoth in the sector, getting first place calls  to  cater for events and companies.

    The business  has also taken a big leap providing livelihood for her. Today, she has no regret dumping her highly paying telecommunications job for food business. Apart from fulfilling her dream,Mrs Effiong-Bright is delighted that she has used her passion to heal homes by teaching wives and couples how to prepare nice meals. Each day she prepares meals for people.  It means long days of waking up early to oversee food prep in the morning and late nights checking on the cleanliness of the transportation van after a shift. She ensures everything is done to enable  her  hit the road in time and speed up her service. Once the supply is done  and the pressure starts winding down, it’s time to clean up and head back to the kitchen to get ready for the next order. She has embraced the life of a peddler, which requires a level of dedication that many underestimate. There are hours of training, preparation, lifting, cleaning, and transportation.

    For her, the  quickest road to success is operating the business herself and making a full-time commitment to oversee the business.

    Being on the team gives her the opportunity to define and articulate the brand personally to her customers. Today, she describes her company as a “comfortable, sustainable” business with seven employees.

    She is a celebrated   chef and culinary coach. Her clients are professionals and ambitious entrepreneurs who are necessarily busy but do not see their busy schedules as an excuse to eat poorly prepared, unhealthy meals.

    Her words: “Our meals are not just tasty, if the endorsements of our clients are anything to go by, then our high sense of hygiene is definitely our big plus. For private orders, we would be at your doorstep with your choice of meal and for public orders, you can be sure with us, your parties will never be the same particularly when we are involved in cooking and serving your guests.” Her  website serves as a virtual gastronomic hub where people opted for and choose from a myriad range of delicacies, all from the comfort of their homes. Apart from that, it also helped people to know which culinary options to choose from by providing updated menus, reviews, ratings, and booking options. She also is on the mission to encourage intertribal marriages  teaching young women to cook meals from  any tribe in Nigeria.

    Right now, she  runs a soup school where she  teaches couples and singles how to cook healthy appetizing meals. Based on the success that the company , has had so far, Mrs Effiong-Bright through the Ibom soups company has been able to train organisations and gave speeches in women conferences. She offers specific programmes to help their food artisans. she hosts discussions and does a lot of networking and outreach.

    For her, the first steps to launching a viable food business is to develop  food items that people actually want to buy. She makes sure the food  is delicious, of course. She stressed the importance of seeking out people who will give honest, realistic feedback. She would want first-time food entrepreneurs to get to know their business slowly before dedicating all of their resources to it — for instance, by testing out their product among friends and families before even committing to a commercial kitchen. A Banking and Finance graduate of University of Uyo,she has  been opportuned to attend some business institutions, among them, Fate Foundation – Nigeria’s foremost Entrepreneurship School. Her vision  is “to be the most sought after food vendor brand for working class people within the urban areas . She has ambitious plans for the future as well. She aims to connect with more corporate organisations and expand the products and services the company  offers. She is always attending  training to help the  company develop a professional sales presentation with an improved capability statement.She has  spent years developing her  team, infrastructure, designing soups , and building capacity. With the right infrastructure in place and several game-changing pieces of business imminent, she  looks forward to growing the business while recognising that the systems and processes she has in place now may need to change as she strives to realise her goal of selling to more Nigerians with planned expansion.

  • Stakeholders in retail food business lament challenges

    Stakeholders in retail food business lament challenges

    Stakeholders in the retail food business on Wednesday met in Lagos to identify the challenges currently being faced by supermarkets and other operators in the country.

    They met at a one-day conference on “Nigeria’s Retail Food Development” organised by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

    Speaking at the forum, a representative of Chellarams Plc, Mr Ashwin Balani,said that his organisation was currently facing the challenge of expired products from supermarkets and other retailers.

    “One of my organisation’s challenges today is the return of expired products by supermarket operators after they must have expired on their shelves.

    “There is also the problem of inefficient supply chain management. Supermarkets do not place orders for retail food products on time,’’ he said.

    The Human Resources Manager of Justrite Ltd, Mr Kadiri Agbola, also said that there was the problem of lack of product awareness among some supermarket operators.

    Agbola also identified “product consistency by suppliers” as another major challenge facing the business.

    Mrs Chukwuma Ogonna of Grand Square SMK and Stores, Abuja, however said that some Nigerians were always coming for expired products in her supermarket because of their cheapness.

    Mrs Margaret Eshiette, Head of Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Food and Codex Department identified lack of awareness on the Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MONCAP) as another challenge.

    According to her, supermarkets are not expected to receive products that do not carry the MANCAP logo.

    USDA’s Regional Agriculture Counsellor, Mr Kurt Seifarth, said the conference was organised to sensitise participants on the need to create and sustain superior performance in Nigeria’s retail food businesses.

    Seifarth said that his government was prepared to support Nigeria’s priorities in the development of her agricultural products.

     

  • Funny Food Business

    Don’t eat what you can’t spell, or translate to good plain Nigerian English

    Cultural fusion in this global village is enlarging my food vocabulary, as newspapers try to open my eyes to the merits of different dishes from every part of the world. But, frankly speaking unless a dictionary is published alongside such dishes, there is very little communication between me and those pages.

          What am I, for instance, to understand by ‘Scalloped Potatoes’? To me, scalloping is what my tailor does to increase her fees, make my dress look as if the scales of a fish have been stuck on it and make me look like a near-strangulated mermaid in it. ‘Shrimp Scamp’ is what I called my children in their growing years when they perpetually got between people’s legs! And I would be grateful for a few potatoes, but ‘Potato au gratin’? I really don’t know. When I come across ‘Mackerel Quiche’, I want to say, quick, give me a Japanese geisha, tinned or not; ‘Chili Concarne’, I think, sounds like chili pepper wrapped in a few leaves of hemp; and I have no idea what ‘Ratatouille’ could possibly stand for: rat fried in olive oil, do you think? After reading those pages, I have many times thrown my hands up in frustration and wondered aloud: What is wrong with good ol’ Amala?

         My children say – and frankly speaking, I don’t believe a word of it – that whenever I sit down to a dish of Amala, I become something else. You know what Amala is, don’t you? It is that dark, sticky substance that looks like moulded black tar but tastes heavenly. When I’m eating it, my children say that my ears automatically close and I can’t hear a word from them again; every pore in my body becomes a spring from which sweat pours like the Niagara Falls; and I eat in deep concentration, all the while quivering while the food lasts.

          Now, I ask you, how can anyone positively believe all that? I love Amala, that’s true; I don’t like to be interrupted when I’m eating it, that’s true; Amala does tend to open the pores, making one sweat like mad, that’s also true; besides, I need to keep my eyes on my food because those watching me just might throw it out since it is not salad. But sir, I do not quiver: the cocaine content of Amala is not as high as that of coffee!

        I have grown very distrustful of anyone who would prefer a bowl of salad to a bowl of Amala. I think someone should sit such people down and ask them what their problem is. I have done that to my family several times but I have to confess that they leave me baffled. But I am not giving up; the gospel of Amala is too strong to keep under. Just ask Mr. Alaani Aderibigbe, who makes and sells the stuff for a living as reported by New Age a little while back. His story is so heartening for me in my crusade of getting proper respect for Amala that I have dubbed him the brave heart. Anyone who marches where angels do not even tread must have some confidence.

            Anyway, even Mr. Alani must grant that Amala does have a superior in Pounded Yam, which appears to have found its own incontestable niche in the people’s consciousness as the Nigerian food. You know what Pounded Yam is, don’t you? It is that white, gooey substance made from yams that have been pounded to death, and to which many sweats and other substances have been added in the process of pounding, but who cares! Many Nigerians swear by it, as their devotion is fast approaching a religion. Someone related how he had been so surprised to find a university professor, who had just returned to the country from abroad, at one of the road-side food centres eating pounded yam. When he asked why he had not gone to a restaurant, the returnee was said to have replied that a restaurant was not the right place to eat pounded yam because he would not enjoy it there. Besides, it is only at a road-side food centre that you can get the original pounded yam, mixed with sweat and a lot of women talking over it to give it the right flavour.

        Many food centres or ‘bukaterias’ that offer PY run timetables that keep the food and temper requirements of each patron in mind, for they know that if the food is not ready at a stipulated time, Mama Put will get more queries than the most disobedient civil servant. And when the patrons begin to stream in, many are donning white shirt, tie and jacket; the last two being promptly discarded while the shirt sleeve is rolled up. Don’t be deceived, for at normal times, those patrons parade as academics or managers or workmen of all descriptions. No sooner is everyone served than hands begin to travel up and down from plate to mouth, backs bent uncomfortably over rather low tables, neck ties rolled aside, noses streaming, eyes glazed, throats clearing intermittently, and jaws snapping powerfully. But don’t be alarmed; you’re only watching ‘Jaws 4: The Odyssey of the Poundo’.

        We are lucky in this part of the world though; restaurant and ‘bukateria’ menus are in English. In some parts of the English speaking world, it is all you can do to read the menu and you wonder if the kitchen is not manned by people from mars; the menu is often not in any language. This accounts for non-English phrases like ‘scalloped potatoes’, ‘shrimp scamps’, and ‘onion tarts’. Shame on those onions! Our menus here are often recited by waiters from memory as, other than the two powerful Nigerian dishes, no other foods command any mention, because by the time one runs the whole gamut of Nigerian dishes anyway, one comes across a wall of paucity and predictability.

          Sometimes, I wonder if the food editors who are trying to increase our choices ever try the recipes they bring forward on themselves before attempting to tempt my throat with them. Believe me, I tried one recipe once but the results did not even faintly resemble the perfect picture displayed on the page. It was a kind of bread and I believed I followed the steps to the letter, despite my two left hands in such matters. What came out of the oven felt like a cross between rubber slippers and dried cow’s hide to the taste! However, everyone in the house was compelled to eat it so that when next I declare that I want to repeat the performance, I am sure to be paid not to do it. The only one who wanted to dodge my bread was instantly reproved by the head of the house:  ‘What makes you think you’re so special that you can’t eat this bread? You will suffer through it like the rest of us!’ It’s a little like the boy who told his father that he did not want to go to church anymore because church was boring. His father replied: ‘Yes, that is the reason everyone goes; so you will go to church and be bored like everyone else’.

       I came away from my experiment with one or two lessons. Don’t eat what you can’t spell, or translate to good plain Nigerian English. Secondly, if a dish requires too many steps and measurements in its preparation, don’t try it. Trust me; one step is likely to have been skipped over by the writer: and that is, how to make it look as perfect as its picture! Both of these lessons confirm to me why Amala and Pounded Yam remain so attractive for Nigerians: they are already translated (even Amala, honest!), they are easy to spell, they do not require too many steps, and they also taste better than rat fried in olive oil. Happy World Foods Day.

    • Today, October 16, is World Foods Day; so I have updated this article, first written in 2006, on the subject.