Interview with Eka Obaigbena
FOUNDER, TOASTIES
Lives in: Lagos, Nigeria
Eka Obaigbena observed a spot in Nigeria’s restaurant marketplace for fast-casual chains – akin to Chipotle, Shake Shack, and Pret a Manger – she had grown accustomed to whereas dwelling overseas. To fill it, she launched Toasties, which gives sandwiches, salads and different gadgets that mix native components with worldwide flavour profiles. How we made it in Africa editor-in-chief Jaco Maritz spoke to her about leaving Michelin-starred kitchens abroad to construct the enterprise in Lagos.
Matters mentioned in the course of the interview embrace:
- The variations between working a restaurant in Nigeria and the West
- Getting into the highlight as an introverted founder
- Navigating loneliness within the early days
- How Lagos’ eating tradition has developed
- What she would do otherwise if beginning the enterprise once more
Watch the total interview beneath: (solely obtainable on www.howwemadeitinafrica.com)
Nigerian entrepreneur Eka Obaigbena educated on the French Culinary Institute in New York, earlier than working in fine-dining and Michelin-starred eating places within the US and Europe.
Throughout visits dwelling, she observed an absence of the fast-casual eating chains – akin to Chipotle, Shake Shack, and Pret a Manger – that she had grown accustomed to abroad.
“I simply needed to see a change and enchancment within the business, particularly as a result of it’s an business that I’m captivated with,” she says.
Obaigbena relocated again to Nigeria in 2015, the place she refined her enterprise thought earlier than formally launching Toasties the next 12 months. The fast-casual idea centres on gourmand sandwiches and salads made with African flavours.
Studying on the job
Toasties launched from an 8m² house in the back of a boutique mall in Lagos’ Ikoyi neighbourhood. Functioning basically as a stationary meals truck, the positioning consisted of a rear kitchen and an open serving window, with no seating. Obaigbena began the operation with simply two employees members.
“There was a whole lot of studying on the job,” Obaigbena says. To start with, she took on a number of roles. “I turned the procurement officer, the accountant, the motive force, […] the cleaner, the cook dinner, the cashier – it’s a must to do all of it, it’s a must to put on many hats.”
Preliminary gross sales had been gradual. For the primary few days, the owner was Toasties’ solely buyer, earlier than phrase of mouth regularly introduced in additional foot visitors.
These early days had been very lonely. “I didn’t have any companions or […] anybody to bounce concepts off,” Obaigbena says.
“There have been occasions once I puzzled whether or not I made the fitting selection,” she remembers. It was particularly troublesome to face a difficult financial system alone. Shortly after she began the enterprise, Nigeria went by a interval of financial challenges, and a sliding native foreign money made issues like components way more costly.
Toasties gives sandwiches, salads and different gadgets that mix native components with worldwide flavour profiles.
Scaling the enterprise
Toasties finally expanded past its unique web site. A significant milestone was securing a location on the home terminal of Lagos’ airport, which Obaigbena says had at all times been a objective.
By 2023, the chain had grown to 5 shops. Nevertheless, some closures – together with one web site that needed to make approach for a authorities freeway undertaking – diminished the corporate’s footprint to 3 places.
Backed by a 2025 funding from non-public fairness agency Aruwa Capital Administration, Obaigbena plans to renew growth in 2026. The enterprise is at present getting ready to open a brand new web site on the airport’s worldwide terminal.
Deliveries have additionally turn out to be a big income stream. To start with, Obaigbena resisted providing supply as a result of she needed clients to expertise the meals recent off the grill. Right this moment, supply orders account for about 45% of the enterprise.
Deliveries have turn out to be a sizeable a part of Toasties’ enterprise.
‘Individuals wish to hear a narrative’
A self-described introvert, Obaigbena initially shied away from being the general public face of Toasties, however in a while realised the significance of placing herself on the market to attach with shoppers.
“Individuals wish to hear a narrative. They wish to perceive who they’re supporting, who they’re placing their … hard-earned earnings behind,” she explains. “No one’s actually going to inform the story the best way that I’m going to inform the story.”
In the course of the late 2010s, the corporate relied closely on Instagram promoting to drive development. Whereas social media advertising stays efficient for the enterprise as we speak, Obaigbena notes that advert prices have risen considerably since these early campaigns.
The corporate solely lately employed a advertising workforce; earlier than that, Obaigbena dealt with all of it herself. “I used to be the one doing the advertising, answering all of the social media messages and all of that on behalf of the corporate,” she says.
With devoted advertising employees now in place, Toasties has been capable of perceive its clients higher. “We carried out a number of surveys, which helped us perceive who we’re focusing on as a substitute of casting your web vast,” Obaigbena explains.
A brand new enterprise in the course of the pandemic
Toasties’ walk-in enterprise slowed considerably in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, although deliveries continued. Discovering herself with extra time on her palms, Obaigbena launched a second enterprise referred to as Board. The enterprise provides charcuterie-style grazing boards and bins for occasions starting from non-public birthdays and weddings to company capabilities.
Navigating Nigeria’s working surroundings
Obaigbena realised that the on a regular basis realities of operating a Western fast-casual model don’t translate on to Nigeria.
The native meals service business continues to be growing, which means there’s a smaller pool of employees with prior restaurant expertise. “Within the US … let’s say I wish to begin a espresso store, there are such a lot of people who find themselves already educated baristas – I don’t must undergo the method of coaching from scratch,” she explains.
Employees at a Toasties outlet.
This want for coaching usually extends to sanitation, as many Nigerians shouldn’t have piped water of their houses. “So the idea of washing your palms usually after getting ready a meal […] just isn’t one thing that comes naturally,” she says. “So it’s a must to undergo the method of continually attempting to teach and practice. However you may take one thing like that with no consideration while you rent a chef within the US.”
One other drawback Western restaurateurs usually don’t must cope with is Nigeria’s frequent electrical energy outages. Disruption in energy provide causes kitchen home equipment to put on down quicker, and an absence of electrical energy impacts the surroundings she needs to create in her retailers. Backup turbines and photo voltaic panels are options, however they add to total prices.
“So there’s simply completely different nuances that aren’t relevant in different elements of the world that will likely be particularly relevant right here,” Obaigbena says. “That’s why you’ll be able to’t take one thing that’s executed overseas after which simply apply it and anticipate that it’s going to work the identical approach. It’s only a fully completely different surroundings with completely different beasts that we have now to deal with every single day.”
