Four university graduates in their early 30s have floated a mobile kitchen in Calabar, Cross River State.
They came together during the COVID-19 lockdown and pooled their little resources to start the start-up food business partnership named ‘Another WurldzB Repast’ which they are planning to register as a corporate entity.
The leader of the quadruplet is 30-year old Paul Rotimi Chibueze, an undergraduate in medicine and surgery at University of Calabar. His friend, convinced about the prospects of his business idea, provided the N30, 000 ‘seed capital’ to open the mobile kitchen eatery.
Chibueze explained: “From this money, I bought pots, cooking spoons, kerosene, condiments etc to start with. We presently operate from Eta Agbor Street in Calabar where my parents rent a two bedroom apartment.
The cooked food vending business, which is now growing with increasing demand from corporate officers at government’s offices, police stations and individual homes, is being consolidated due to the marketing skills of Akinsanoye Akintunde Adedeji, a 30-year old M.Sc physiology graduate.
The youngest of the team is the 21-year old Radiography and Radiological Sciences student, Jayeoba Paulson Esupofo.
Jayeoba said they first started with Jollof rice, catfish pepper soup, beans and fried plantains and assorted meats but now they have increased from 10 cups of rice daily to 15 cups due to increasing orders.
He enthused: “Our first pot of pepper soup was awful. We were not worried since we were only starting out. The second pot we sold only three plates but all that did not deter us.
“The four of us are like-minded and determined to succeed. We spend sleepless nights preparing our assorted cuisines because of high demands. Only one of us has a car. So, we use the boot of his car to load the few coolers of foods and drive round to deliver the orders.
“We cannot talk about making profits yet. All we are after now is to impress the public. We want to stamp our presence as the number one suppliers of quality foods to our increasing customers in their homes and offices. Because of the demand, one of us intends to relocate from Lagos to concentrate fully with the mobile kitchen business.
“We are proud of what we are doing. At the end of the month, 10% of whatever we put in is shared as our gains”, Jaiyeoba added.
Each of the four heads a strategic department of the business where he brings his own peculiar specialty to bear.
They sell as cheap as N300 but for a full course, N500. Full course is complete with meats, and other assortments.
Rotimi, the CEO, said the four of them were determined to succeed, hence their investing their time, efforts and other resources to improving it daily.
“We are like-minded and determined to succeed. We are happy at the acceptance and patronage so far. Today, we could not meet the demands. However we will appreciate supports from government band groups as we intend to encourage many more young people who are now indicating interest to join us.”
