You’ll agree that there was a time Mr Biggs was the biggest food brand in Nigeria.
Most people believe they crashed because they got lazy. But that’s not what happened..
Mr Biggs was founded in 1973. They dominated the market from 80’s till early 2000’s. But even then, Mr Biggs was already on its way down long before competitors like The Place, Chicken Republic, TFC and KFC even arrived.
So, their collapse was completely not because of competition. It is actually what some will call business sui//cide.
The real problem started when Mr. Bigg decided to operate and create a business model that will let them work through representative. Making them the first Nigerian brand to sell franchises to investors. It was a huge deal at the time.
Infact, they believed they struck gold & diamond. Because this was about to make them the next RCCG. i.e. You would start to see Mr Biggs on almost every street. Yes, that was their plan.
This meant giving random investors total permission to use the name “Mr Biggs” to open outlets and sell food across the country.
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For example it’s same thing with “Nigerian Idol” you know American Idol, which is the original franchise. So, it’s not like the owners of American Idol are the ones organizing this Nigerian Idol, i mean, the quality is clearly different.
So, now that you understand franchising. Let’s get back to the story.
Now, it gets interesting.
Mr Biggs is owned by UAC.
So, top guys at UAC began giving out Mr Biggs franchises to their wives, side chicks, nephews, friends etc without ensuring that these people were adequately qualified to run the business.
Even Jesus in the Bible, didn’t just share loaves of bread and fishes to random people. Duh!
So, what happened next was inevitable.
Brand dilution & a retarded standards.
Because they became unable to uphold the reputation of excellence that made people love them. Meaning, the Mr Biggs in Maryland would have a completely different menu from the one at
Ogudu 3km away. Infact, some “Mr Biggs” were even selling Amala.
Their biggest seller which was meat pie, was wrecked. The one sold at Ketu, will taste completely different from the one sold at Mile 12. So, it’s like every outlet had different chefs doing experiments with our tastebuds. Unacceptable!
So, customers had to search elsewhere since Mr Biggs could no longer provide constant quality experience across all outlets.
Three decades ago, they would have survived this blunder.
But now, competitions such as TFC, KFC, The Place, mastered the art of giving same taste across outlets. Mr Biggs had no chance of competing because these new competitors have professionals handling every franchise outlet, unlike them.
While Mr Biggs was playing catch up, the new generation eateries were expanding. Mr Biggs had more than 170 outlets in SW Nigeria then, but now more than 95% of them are inactive.
Some have been leased out, sold or closed down.
– @TrendingEX
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