When Sooyah Bistro started in 2018, suya was certainly one of Nigeria’s hottest road meals, however its market remained largely casual, fragmented and dominated by roadside distributors.
Starting with N20,000, Sooyah Bistro says it has grown right into a enterprise valued at greater than N5 billion, with over 10 branches throughout Lagos and Ibadan.
However, the journey has additionally concerned navigating rising meals costs, forex depreciation, operational inefficiencies and the problem of increasing with out compromising profitability.
In this interview with Nairametrics, the founding father of Sooyah Bistro discusses how the enterprise formalised a fragmented meals market, funded its growth via reinvested earnings, tailored to totally different client spending patterns in Lagos and Ibadan, and constructed operational techniques to help progress.
The entrepreneur additionally shares the monetary metrics restaurant homeowners ought to perceive earlier than opening new retailers and the teachings Nigerian founders can study money stream, unit economics and sustainable growth.
Nairametrics: What are the largest structural challenges presently going through Nigerian fast service eating places, and which ones do you consider entrepreneurs want to clear up internally somewhat than wait for presidency or the financial system to enhance?
Olamidun Ogundoyin: Nigerian QSR operators face extreme structural hurdles like unstable energy, chilly chain failures, excessive turnover, and provide chain fragmentation. Rather than ready for exterior aid, resilient manufacturers construct inner defences.
We defend margins towards spoilage by establishing personal chilly chains with vacuum packaging and decentralised freezing. To counter excessive workers turnover and scale reliably, recipes and workflows have to be strictly standardised in order that meals high quality by no means depends on a person cook dinner’s reminiscence. Finally, deploying automated point-of-sale techniques that decrement uncooked elements in actual time stops inner leakage earlier than it erodes profitability.
Nairametrics: As a enterprise proprietor working in Lagos and Ibadan, what variations have you ever noticed in client behaviour, buying energy and working costs throughout the 2 markets?
Olamidun Ogundoyin: Operating throughout Lagos and Ibadan highlights two distinct market dynamics. In Lagos, customers prioritise comfort, ordering closely by way of supply apps to keep away from site visitors and spending extra on premium combos. However, this comes with steep industrial rents, excessive service fees, and a fluid workforce inclined to frequent job-hopping.
In distinction, Ibadan diners are value-driven, favouring portion measurement, dine-in experiences, and communal meals. Commercial leases are 40 to 60 p.c decrease, permitting for bigger seating layouts at decrease capital price, paired with a extra steady, loyal workforce that reduces expensive workers turnover.
Nairametrics: You began Sooyah Bistro with simply N20,000 and have grown it right into a enterprise you say is now valued at greater than N5 billion. What had been the essential turning factors that moved the enterprise from a small enterprise to an enterprise?
Olamidun Ogundoyin: Growing from N20,000 to an enterprise valued above N5 billion was pushed by 4 key operational shifts. First, validating bodily retail by transferring from dwelling pop-ups to a devoted container outlet proved that customers would hunt down an elevated suya expertise. Next, establishing a centralised commissary for butchery, spice mixing, and vacuum packaging eradicated recipe variances and stock waste throughout branches.
To drive quantity with out the capital burden of expansive eating rooms, the model paired third-party supply partnerships with proprietary digital ordering channels. Finally, transitioning from founder-led operations to an skilled govt management workforce throughout provide chain, finance, and high quality management created the governance wanted for institutional scale.
Nairametrics: How did you fund the growth of Sooyah Bistro with out shedding management of the enterprise, and what function did reinvested earnings play within the progress?
Olamidun Ogundoyin: We grew Sooyah Bistro with out promoting away management by adhering to strict cash-flow self-discipline. For the early years of operation, almost each kobo of working revenue was ploughed again into the corporate to safe kitchen equipment, fund central manufacturing, and open new areas, avoiding the temptation to draw firm income for private luxurious.
We additionally pioneered low-capital modular retailers corresponding to customised transport containers and specific pickup counters as a substitute of sinking tons of of thousands and thousands into heavy brick-and-mortar builds, which introduced payback horizons down to twelve to eighteen months.
Nairametrics: For entrepreneurs who typically develop as a result of a primary outlet seems profitable, what monetary numbers ought to they perceive earlier than opening their second, third, or tenth location?
Olamidun Ogundoyin: Long queues don’t assure money stream, and increasing merely due to foot site visitors is a typical entice. Today, we function over ten branches as a result of now we have all the time ensured that progress, sustainability, and profitability are assured earlier than opening one other door.
Store-level EBITDA should verify the primary department is really worthwhile after accounting for lease, energy, spoilage, and labour. The payback interval on fit-out costs shouldn’t exceed twenty-four months based mostly on precise working money stream. Prime price, mixed meals and direct labour, should sit under sixty p.c of income; in any other case growth merely scales losses. Finally, the brand new department requires 4 to six months of devoted working reserves so it doesn’t cannibalise the unique web site throughout ramp-up.
Nairametrics: You recognized suya as a serious client alternative in 2018, despite the market being largely casual and fragmented. What precisely did you see available in the market that satisfied you this might grow to be a scalable formal enterprise?
Olamidun Ogundoyin: When we evaluated the Nigerian meals panorama in 2018, suya represented a compelling contradiction. It was the nation’s most generally consumed road delicacy, but it remained confined to a casual market marked by unpredictable hygiene, evening-only hours, and inconsistent high quality. We recognised that road meals didn’t want to keep tethered to roadside stalls. An increasing city client class wished genuine flavours in clear, reliable environments.
By deconstructing the core flavour profile via proprietary yaji blends and smoking strategies, we might transfer past newspaper-wrapped skewers into an expansive culinary class that includes suya burgers, wraps, bowls, and pasta. Furthermore, by tapping into substantial daytime demand for lunches, fast snacking, and company catering, we remodeled a night-time road behavior right into a viable, all-day industrial class.
Nairametrics: How do you stability sustaining affordability for Nigerian customers with the necessity to defend margins in an setting the place the price of protein, packaging, labour, and logistics retains rising?
Olamidun Ogundoyin: Macroeconomic pressures like forex devaluations, meals inflation, and hovering tariffs pressured Sooyah Bistro to pivot from aggressive bodily growth to operational resilience and unit economics. We know that rising residing costs have an effect on clients’ pockets. We have structured our menu in order that nice flavour is accessible to everybody, irrespective of your finances.
Dining with us is designed to match each rhythm of your day and each pocket. For a fast, wallet-friendly chew on the go, our entry tier delivers daring, genuine flavors via on a regular basis favorites like 3K Chow, worth rice bins, hen suya toast, and single skewers of freshly grilled beef, hen, or tozo suya.
When you crave one thing extra indulgent, our mid-tier lineup steps up with hearty signature classics, from loaded suya burgers and saucy shawarmas to tacky melts and smokey suya jollof bowls. For celebrations, gatherings, or sharing with pals, our premium platters take middle stage with beneficiant mega energy bites, loaded hen and chips trays, and bumper suya bins made for feasting. Whether it’s an reasonably priced desk lunch or an all-out feast, there may be all the time a flavor-packed expertise crafted only for you.
Nairametrics: Looking again on the journey from N20,000 to a enterprise valued at greater than N5 billion, what are the three greatest errors you made that different entrepreneurs making an attempt to scale ought to keep away from?
Olamidun Ogundoyin: If I had to restart at present with N20,000, the primary six months could be strictly asset-light. I might spend the capital completely on high quality elements and clear packaging, cooking from dwelling and taking pre-orders by way of WhatsApp and social media for workplace deliveries to hold fastened costs at zero.
From months seven to eighteen, I might reinvest each kobo right into a shared cloud kitchen or an specific pickup counter in a industrial district, partnering with native dispatch riders to construct constant supply quantity with out signing costly leases. Between months nineteen and twenty-four, I might lock down provide contracts and standardise proprietary seasoning blends earlier than committing to a everlasting web site.
The core lesson for any Nigerian founder is that progress is pushed by money conversion, not hype or foot site visitors. Food companies hardly ever fail as a result of the meals lack attraction; they collapse when liquidity runs dry. Protect your working money, perceive unit economics, and construct processes that perform with out your fixed bodily presence.
