Piyush Nair, managing director of Bayswater Industries Limited, producer of Mr. Chef beef and chicken seasoning cubes, in this interview with Osa Victor Obayagbona, speaks on the contribution of his company to the Nigerian economy as well as the launch of what he termed ‘double delight’ consumer-focused market offerings. Excerpts:
How would you describe the Nigerian business climate?
Statistically, the rebased Nigerian economy, with a Gross Domestic Product put at 89.22 percent or N80.2 trillion in 2014, is the largest in Africa and the 26th largest in the world. The economy has also become more diversified, with the manufacturing sector contributing about 6.7 percent to the GDP. The implication is that this economy has capacity to grow if all stakeholders make full commitment to making it work. On our part at Bayswater Industries, where we produce so many consumer-oriented fast moving commodity goods, including the highly popular Mr. Chef beef and chicken seasoning cubes, we have remained a steadfast partner in government’s efforts at putting the economy of Nigeria on solid footing. It is in light of our commitment to Nigeria that we have continued to make huge investments in the economy because we see economic development in the country more from the perspective of a marathon race than sprint.
What would you consider to be the critical challenges of the economy, especially to firms in the manufacturing sector?
Put simply, the best of private sector support will amount to nothing if government does not make the operating environment sufficiently attractive to investors. For us in the Fast Moving Commodity Goods (FMCG) sector, we cannot help but call for government’s support to keep us in business. This is because the current unrelenting, unregulated and wholesale importation of substandard food seasoning in our market does not portend well for our industry. On the contrary, it has the potential to lay to waste the phenomenal investments of local producers of food seasoning. Government will do well to seriously consider placing a ban on these unwholesome imports and save not just our industry but the nation’s economy.
Recently, Mr. Chef seasoning cubes launched a consumer reward promo and convenience marketing. What informed this?
To put it in a simple form: Mr. Chef’s two instant-win incentives resulted from our desire to reward our customers, distributors and wholesalers nationwide for their unwavering loyalty to Mr. Chef quality seasoning cubes. As our people in the South East often say, “it is only when both hands wash each other that they can become clean.” Our main goal is to make the cooking experience of our customers both inexpensive and a great delight.
Our simultaneous double delights are called: Mr. Chef 10-in-1 pack and Awuff Now, Now. We developed the double-offer initiative on the simple philosophy of winning. When Mr. Chef speaks of winning, we speak of winning ‘big, big’; we speak of winning ‘now, now’ and we speak of everyone being a winner, ‘no story, no go come.’ No company in Nigeria, to the best of my knowledge, has simultaneously double-served its customers, distributors and wholesalers as Mr. Chef has set out to do.
How different are these incentives from each other?
Mr. Chef 10-in-1 pack of seasoning cubes is evidence we present to our customers that they do not have to pay a high price to enjoy their meals. Before now, they probably had got used to buying whole packs or packs of 20 cubes or cubes dispensed in polythene bags in the market. Now, that is history. Mr. Chef’s 10-in-1 pack is the first of its kind to be introduced by any company in Nigeria. It is our response to the insights we gained from interacting with our customers over the years. It is our answer to their demand for convenience because they no longer have to buy more than they immediately need or buy less than they need. At every point, they have just the right number of seasoning cubes at their fingertips. In terms of pricing, Mr.Chef’s 10-in-1 is easily affordable because it is sold at N20. Because of this, we make a simple promise to our customers that with Mr. Chef 10-in-1 packs, all they get is Better Chop, Chikini Money.
All the cubes are sealed in tamper-proof packs so there is assurance of quality and hygienic packaging because the cubes are not touched by hands before they are sealed in the packs. This means that customers also are confident that no one can play market tricks on them: our 10 is 10, not less.
Awuff Now, Now, on the other hand, is basically a bonus or ‘jara’ for all our customers. It is a consumer promotion that will last until 31 December, 2014. It is a reward promo to celebrate the fruitful relationship between Mr. Chef and our teeming customers all over Nigeria in a manner that makes everyone a winner. Awuff Now, Now means Buy Now, Now; win Big, Big. It is not lottery, there are no raffle draws and there is no “try again next time.” When a customer buys Mr. Chef seasoning, he or she gets instant free gifts with every purchase, regardless of the volume of purchase.
How does this work?
Every carton of Mr. Chef’s beef or chicken seasoning contains a free pack of 100 cubes in addition to instant gifts that include biros, exercise books, cutlery sets, trays, face caps, towels, aprons, T-shirts, radios and mobile phones.
But these are regular gifts?
True. But no company has given them out like we are doing. However, other prizes of higher value will also be given to winners. These include Kia Rio cars, trips to Dubai, generators, LED TVs and refrigerators. These are contained in Scratch Cards in the cartons. These high value gifts are won by scratching the cards in the cartons. Just scratch the cards and what you see is what you instantly win at Mr. Chef’s redemption centres.
Is the 10-in-1 pack and Awuf Now, Now restricted to specific flavours of cubes?
No. All what we are doing applies equally to both our beef and chicken-flavoured seasonings. This is because each time our customers take any Mr. Chef beef or chicken-flavoured seasoning off the shelf in the market, it translates to success for us. Ordinarily, that success is not fully celebrated until the customer wears a smile on his or her face as a result of having got value for money. 10-in-1 pack and Awuf Now, Now are intended to give our customers more value for money because Mr. Chef has the extra mile to reward our customers for their loyalty over the years.
What is the catch?
There is no catch whatsoever. Mr. Chef has only leveraged the feedback we get from consumer insights. Over the last 6 years, Mr Chef has been in the forefront of spicing up meals with our delightful seasoning that has been indispensable kitchen companion of our customers. In all of those years, we also have taken time to continually appraise the insights we get from them in terms of what they really need in a food seasoning. From their feedbacks, we know they like convenience, we know they desire easily affordable seasoning, we know they do not compromise hygiene and we know they want just the right quantity of seasoning cubes every time. I feel very proud to say that we are creating value for everyone.
For our distributors and product consumers, when they buy quality Mr. Chef seasoning, they do not stretch their budgets; they get rewarded and they generally have fun preparing their favourite meals. For us, we continue to explore more ways to delight their taste preferences with proudly Nigerian products. For the country, our efforts create more employment and avenues to the economic development of Nigeria.
These initiatives were launched during the Independence day celebration. Why?
We chose the platform of the celebration of Nigeria’s 54th Independence to introduce both initiatives because we believe that our customers, like our country, should be celebrated. Their smiles, positive testimonials, repeat purchases and recommendations have contributed immensely to successfully positioning Mr. Chef seasoning as one of the market leaders in our segment of the market in Nigeria.
Again, we believe that our customers should be able to enjoy their cooking experience without having to break a bank to do so.
Osa Victor Obayagbona
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