Kunle Adelabu
Customers buying Sula bread ‘as e dey hot’ the bakery along Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Way, Igbogbo
While many bakeries are shutting down in the face of the economic downturn, Sula bread is waxing stronger and in actual fact, planning to expand almost a year after its bread factory was commissioned in Igbogbo, Igbogbo/Bayeku Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Ikorodu Division, Lagos State, Southwest, Nigeria.
The factory was unveiled last year October by the Adeboruwa of Igbogbo, His Royal Majesty, Oba (Barr.) Semiudeen Orimadegun Kasali with the support of the Chief Imam of Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA, Fadeelatul-Sheikh Al-Imam Dhikrullahi Abdullahi Andu(Tanimose) and other dignitaries.
Since then, Sula bread has taken the lead with quality products – butter, sardine, coconut and fruit bread, to meet the needs of Igbogbo and Ikorodu Division residents at large with demands outside the Division which has necessitated expansion of operations.
Sula breads are in different sizes – jumbo, family, mini and solo, to cater for different groups of consumers.
Alhaji Sulaimon Adekunle, the Alakoso Adeen of Igbogbo Central Mosque and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Sula Bread, in an interview with THE IMPACT, said that the bakery is fully committed to satisfying its numerous customers with quality bread and giving them value for their patronage.
“We started well and up till now, we are still managing to cope despite the challenges posed by high cost of raw materials and others local issues surrounding bread making”, Alhaji Sulaimon said.
Sales representatives ready to satisfy customers
“When Sula bread started in 2021, the environment was okay in term of procurement of raw materials. Most of these materials cannot be sourced locally. Materials like flour which is made from wheat and you know what is happening between Russia and Ukraine, there is also sugar, milk, butter, vegetable oil and yeast are imported into the country and only vegetable can be sourced locally. We still manage to cope and survive because bread is staple bread just like rice and as a result, we are not just operating for profit making.
“We operate to add value, give our people premium quality and made bread that its quality is unprecedented and our customers can testify to this”.
The Sula Bread CEO attributed his survival in the business to quality products that Sula bakery is offering members of the public which, according to him, has made demands high.
He said that breads in the bakery are usually sold hot because of the enormous demands for its quality.
“Because we are offering good products, our bread is sold even outside Ikorodu and we are getting demands from Maryland and other parts of the state. Our breads are being sold as they are coming out of the oven, we call it ‘as e dey hot’ and we really appreciate that people love the bread and they have continued to patronize us”, he said.
“We are determined to give them good products out of good thinking and despite the challenges in procuring raw materials, we are also determined to make use of quality materials that will give us good products”, he assured.
“Within the first six months of the commencement of our operations, I discovered that people come from Magodo, Alausa and other places. They love the bread to the extent that people usually call us on Sundays to know if they can have our products”.
He unveiled the plans for the bakery’s expansion first to THE IMPACT, stating that another big bakery will be commissioned in the next two months to cater for the ever increasing demands by our customers. .
“Our plans before the fluctuation of prices were that within the first six months of operation, we would open another branch of Sula bread and after a year, we would have two additional bakeries”, he said.
“Right now, we are planning to open a new bakery very close to the Oba Adeboruwa palace in Igbogbo and we are determined to complete it in two months. We hope that we will be able to meet the demands which are more than we are currently producing and we really appreciate the way people love our products, hence, we are determined not to disappoint them”, Alhaji Sulaimon said while unveiling the plan to open a new bakery.
“Yes, we love food industry so much and we are planning to further invest in it. Even in the hierarchy of human needs, food is number one before shelter, security and others. That is why we are determined to add value to the community in term of production of foods. So, we are likely to go into other confectionaries, fast foods and other areas of food productions”, he added.
