Nigerian Bakers Shutting Down Due To High Cost Of Flour

The prices of flour have continued to rise since wheat importers started to source their foreign exchange from the black market and it is now forcing some bakers to shut down.

Chief Executive Officer of a popular bakery in Delta State, Mandela Makinde, recently announced on Twitter that he would be shutting down and promised that many more would be forced to close their bakeries due to high cost of raw materials.

His tweets read,

“I for one would be closing down mine. We have basically ran at a loss for the past 7months, been keeping it open with personal funds just so my workers would have a Job, but at this moment we have no other Choice.

“So i would be contributing additional 25 workers to the unemployment market this week.”

Another baker Felix Leo said “I shut mine in February this year after battling with a crazy increase in prices of all baking items since March 2020. I concluded no way out of any problem from this Buhari Government.”

A quick survey in the market shows that flour, which was formerly N6,500 for a bag, is now selling at N23,000+ and a cartoon of Gloria butter which was formerly N12,000 is now selling at N17,000.

But a baking business coach, Oluwabukola Ajayi, owner of Naija Bakers, advised cake vendors not to be scared or panic over the rising cost of materials in the market.

In a video seen by THEWHISTLER, she asked bakers to try out her tips on how to remain in business and make sales.

She gave the following tips:

As a manufacturer, focus on promoting your core products.

“As a baker , check out the fast moving goods in your store and try to focus on them. This is not the time to duel so much on multiple sources of income, instead focus your energy on bestsellers to create more sales.
“The sales profit might be relatively low but since you will be doing bulk sales , the accumulated profit will help keep the business open.”

Introduce economy and premium versions of your products

“This is not the time to be rigid when it comes to your prices, so it’s wise to create two cake or meat pie recipes, for economy and premium.
“So if your meat pie was N500 before the recession but we now have a meat pie for N200, it doesn’t mean it should taste bad, you are just creating room to accommodate all kinds of customers according to their pocket.”

Do Lots of Marketing

“Within the industry I have noticed that we do marketing the wrong way. But during this recession you should take advantage of Tiktok, Instagram reels, sponsored Ads.

“One thing you should do is put your best products up and then run sponsored Ads on the post, speak so much about your cake brand this period.”

Protect Your Cash Flow

Ajayi also advised bakers to cut down on branding to be able to get extra earnings.

“Source for discounted prices on needed materials and when you find this buy in bulk to stock up. Every naira counts so search around for stores that you will get all the necessary materials at a discounted price”