Contrary to the view that Mr Bigg’s brand is going extinct, the brand is making a big comeback, as it showcases the ‘future of Mr Bigg’s.
During a recent media tour of its major outlets in Lagos, the company informed journalists that Mr Bigg’s, as people knew it, is changing and wants to drive a new narrative for the first Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) business in Nigeria.
The parent company, UAC Restaurants is taking back part of the franchise by unveiling a full company-owned outlet in Lekki, Lagos which it opened in July this year. The company said going forward, the new store is going to be the standard for all of its outlets all over the country.
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The quintessential outlet has Debonair Pizza to take on Dominos Pizza’s leadership in the Pizza market, a crèche, call-up centre from which it takes orders from customers and makes dispatches with speed.
The new outlet’s ambience is what is expected of a market leader like Mr Bigg’s, which opened its first outlet in Lagos 33 years ago.
As part of the ‘future’, the management says it is going back to its old business model of partial franchise and throwing itself into the market by opening the first company-owned stores nationwide.
Ethel Mba, the Marketing Manager of UAC Restaurants said the company intends to take charge of content and control the narrative about the brand.
She added that the new approach promises to sustain excellence in a wide variety of dishes, pastries and confectionaries to the delight of its teeming consumers, which is the heritage of Mr Bigg’s.
She explained that the new restaurant will remain the ‘signature poster’ for all the other restaurants in the new concept, aimed at bringing a world-class meal experience for Nigerian consumers with regards to customer service and restaurant ambience.
According to her, the lately held view that the brand is dying is not true. She maintains that it remains the number one QSR in Nigeria by market share with over 100 outlets all over the country.
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“When you franchise, some will get it right, others will get it wrong,” Tokunbo Modupe, a staffer of the company said during the tour.
According to him, some outlets, which refuse to scale up, will be dropped because the company will not take anything less than the new standard it is setting up.
Customers of the once-loved QSR have complained of dwindling fortunes, which, they say, is caused by poor customer service, poor tastes and fewer outlets.
If the new push by the company to reposition it sails through, the former darling of the QSR business may well be on its way t
o a massive resurgence in Nigeria.
