Chicken Republic just announced that they are rolling out a new meal plan - Egg star. It is white rice, stew and egg.
If you are driving past any Chicken Republic in Lagos, you’d see the egg star banners are already up. This meal will cost N500, would be available only in Lagos stores and only in the morning hours.
The company is trying out a different business model. The truth is running a successful fast-food business in Nigeria has never been easy, we have seen the death of fast-food chains like Sweet Sensations, Tantalizers, and Mr Biggs.
Chicken Republic was founded by Deji Adeyanju in 2004 but it is now owned by Food Concepts Plc with David Butler as the CEO. Despite some years of losses like 2016-2018, Food Concepts is a profitable venture. As of 2020, the revenue grew from 13.8m in 2019 to 18.2bn naira ($44m).
Why the new Egg star plan? The answer is as clear as day. Achieving profitability while battling inflation. Chicken Republic has managed to stay afloat and relevant for years and it is not a result of sheer luck. The current goal of Chicken Republic is to offer affordable meals, they offer meals as cheap as N665 but the current rate of inflation in Nigeria is astronomical. Inflation generally is currently at 15.92% but food inflation is at 20%.
Butler speaking to African Report says, “disposal incomes are under pressure and further naira depreciation could affect import prices and increase the set-up costs for new stores.”
How can they increase and retain their customers base while food inflation is at its highest with chicken, rice, and flour costing more than they have in years?
Even though in theory, it is a good business model to try. Does anyone want to eat just rice and egg?
Twitter users reacted to this news with humour as usual. Here are some tweets about the new Egg Star;
The whole point of Chicken Republic is chicken-based meals, even though some people have argued that an egg is still a chicken albeit unborn, rice and egg seem like the food of hardship and suffering.