How To Start An Eatery Business In Nigeria (2024)
This article discusses how to open an eatery in Nigeria currently in this year 2024. Eateries, often known as restaurants or canteens depending on where you are in the country, are places where people go to get ready-made meals for immediate consumption or to take away for later consumption. This industry is flourishing, and it has produced many silent millionaires in Nigeria. We will walk you through the steps of starting your own fast food restaurant and give you an estimate of how much it will cost. Endeavour to check out our list of the top 10 most popular fast food eateries in Nigeria once you are through reading this article.
Humans will always rely on food for survival, and because food is such an important part of our everyday lives, where we get it and how it is prepared is extremely important for health reasons, as people will not want to eat just about anything just to survive. Many people enjoy making their own meals, but due to the quick pace of urban life, they may not have the time to do so and instead prefer to eat at restaurants and fast food establishments.
What many people look out for when they want to eat out at restaurants or canteens is not just the quality and quantity of the food but a very good location that is serene with lovely décor, very neat and well organized while being offered meals they enjoy with the utmost care, and because these days, people frequent fast food eateries for various reasons ranging from engagement parties, birthdays, dates, church programmes, business meetings, and so on, the eatery business in Nigeria has become a booming business, and those intending to venture into the restaurant and fast food business in the country must make sure that their environment appeals to their customers’ expectations if they want that customer retention that they crave so badly.
Anyone with enough enthusiasm and dedication may operate an eatery in Nigeria today. There are procedures to follow when starting a fast food business, and we must emphasize at this point that it is a very stressful endeavor. We will provide you with information on how to do so, as well as an estimate of how much it will cost you to open a restaurant in any part of the country. Let’s get right down to business.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO OPEN AN EATERY BUSINESS IN NIGERIA TODAY?
The entire cost of beginning a restaurant business in Nigeria nowadays varies greatly depending on the size of the business and the fast food equipment that you want to buy, but on average, the estimated cost of launching an eatery business in Nigeria is between ₦1.5 million and ₦2 million. Keep in mind that this is just an estimate, and you may want additional funds in reality as you go about making your discoveries, both from existing people in the business and from the market when you want to buy your canteen equipment.
STEP BY STEP GUIDE ON HOW TO START AN EATERY BUSINESS IN NIGERIA 2024
The following are the step by step processes on how to start an eatery business in Nigeria this 2024:
CHOOSE THE TYPE OF EATERY BUSINESS THAT YOU WANT TO VENTURE INTO
Before you open your restaurant in Nigeria, you must first decide what type of fast food business you want to start. This is where the preparations begin, as there are several sorts of restaurants, and it is up to you to decide whether to manage a “mama put,” a medium-sized canteen or restaurant, or an outright fast food outlet that you will spread to other locations as time goes on, depending on what you want. As previously stated, this is entirely up to you and what works best for you, and you must determine which precisely targets the largest market in your area.
PREPARE A BUSINESS PLAN AS WELL AS YOUR CAPITAL
It is very important that you do a lot of studies on how the eatery business in Nigeria, especially in your locality works, before putting together an action plan that will set you in motion towards opening your fast food. This is what is known as making research or conducting a feasibility study, as well as developing your business plan that will give you the idea in the realest sense of what to expect and how to go about your canteen business when you start.
Your business plan will also tell you what to expect as you commence your eatery business, the type and number of equipment to purchase, your staff strength, etc. Once this is done, you will have an idea of just how much you will need to start your eatery business in Nigeria and this money is your capital. You will need to raise it as it is the foundation of your business. You can seek funding from family and friends or grants from wealthy individuals and businesses to start up yours.
FIND A GOOD LOCATION FOR YOUR BUSINESS
A very good location at a strategic site in a city centre or any other place that has high traffic volume for human activity is very essential for your business. It is not just enough to have the idea but to execute this idea in the most strategic of ways, so seek out a nice location and set your eatery business there, it will help you attract and retain customers as long as your services are top notch. Also, ensure that you use colours that condition people to know that this is an eatery so that once they spot it, they may then enter and patronize your business. In Nigeria today, colours like green, yellow and red are the colours of fast food businesses, and you should do well to play with such colours when painting your business place.
PURCHASE THE NECESSARY EQUIPMENT FOR YOUR RESTAURANT BUSINESS
With about ₦300,000 – ₦400,000, you can get majority of the kitchen equipment you need for your eatery business to thrive. The equipment you will purchase will be highly dependent on the type of restaurant business you have decided to operate as well as the menu you will be serving your customers going forward.
START YOUR EATERY BUSINESS
Once you have done everything from the very first step up till this point, you can now start your eatery business. This business involves a lot of work and you will need to input serious money into it for it to thrive. You will also need all the patience in the world to build it to a height so while you are starting, do not expect immediate growth but with time, you will get there if you do the right things.
EMPLOY CAPABLE HANDS FOR YOUR FAST FOOD BUSINESS
Your eatery business depending on the plan should require at least 4-5 capable hands when you start it. You will need dedicated and experienced people to help run your business while you oversee it. Ensure to get at least two chefs who can prepare assorted meals while others do the serving and you do the overseeing. With time, you can employ more hands as your eatery business grows.
ADVERTISE YOUR BUSINESS
If you don’t advertise your eatery business, how do you want it to grow? How do you want people to know it and identify with it? For your business to be far reaching, you need to advertise it to your family and friends as well as many other potential customers that you do not even know and this can be done via word of mouth, print media, social media and every other channels of advertising.
