Entrepreneurship Zone: 15 March 2023 :: How a Nigerian bread company made it big in Canada

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Entrepreneurship Zone: 15 March 2023 ::  How a Nigerian bread company made
it big in Canada

 

	
 


*          


Grey Matlock Bakery, a Canadian-based business, was established in 2018 by
Adewale Rabiu, who relocated from Nigeria to Ontario in 2016. Upon arrival,
he noticed the absence of his beloved Lagos food, Agege bread, and began
exploring potential business opportunities. 


 


Fast forward to today, the company has expanded to include two bakeries,
four franchises, and a presence in more than 350 stores across the country.


Adewale Rabiu and his family moved to Ontario, Canada in 2016, fulfilling
their long-time desire to live abroad. Prior to relocating, Rabiu worked for
MTN in Nigeria, and upon arrival in Canada, he secured a position as a
senior business analyst at telecommunications company Rogers. However,
Rabiu’s true passion was entrepreneurship, and despite his success in the
telecommunications industry, he aspired to start his own business.

“When we were planning the move, we already discussed that if we found a
business opportunity, we would grab it,” he says.

Upon settling into their new home city, the Rabiu family quickly realised
that there was an absence of Nigerian bakeries, despite the large diaspora
community. They especially missed Agege bread, a soft, fluffy, stretchy and
sweet white bread – baked as large rectangular loaves – named after a
neighbourhood in Lagos where it gained popularity and was distributed from.
The potential for a viable business became apparent – if they could capture
the market for Agege bread, they could establish a successful enterprise.


Setting up the first bakery


For Rabiu, who had held previous positions in sales and marketing, the
first step was to understand the size of the market, the distribution
channels available and the best way to get the product to the end customer.

He started speaking to different stores in the region that sold products
aimed at the African and Caribbean diaspora, getting an estimate of the
number of loaves these outlets would be able to buy from the bakery.

Armed with that information, he then researched the process required to set
up a business in Ontario and all the required licensing and registrations.
Then came the question of funding. “We were not going to get grants from the
government at that time. We also did not want to approach the local banks
for funding yet. So, we raised the capital from our own savings,” says
Rabiu.

With funding in place, the company was registered, premises were leased and
the equipment was purchased. Rabiu was still employed by Rogers but took
annual leave at the end of 2017 to go back to Nigeria and learn everything
he could about the process of baking Agege bread. Upon his return, the
company started recruiting but could not find a single baker.

“I couldn’t believe it. We had set up the business and were ready but
couldn’t find the employees! Out of necessity, I transferred all my
knowledge to my wife and, initially, we did the baking ourselves,” he says.
Later Rabiu took a leave of absence from his job at Rogers to focus on the
bakery (he only fully resigned in 2019).



Adewale Rabiu

 

In March 2018, Grey Matlock Bakery produced its inaugural commercially
baked bread – a modest batch of 14 loaves. This quantity was sufficient to
supply one of the African stores, and the following day, a second batch was
delivered to another outlet. As the days progressed, the company’s footprint
organically expanded with more batches being distributed to additional
stores.

“Four or five months after starting production we found a professional
baker, but I still had to teach him the Nigerian way of baking. I needed to
be hands-on,” he says.


The Nigerian way, with adjustments


In Nigeria, on the streets of Lagos, Agege bread can be bought as a whole
loaf and will usually be pulled apart to scoop beans or soup, says Rabiu.
“That is how we grew up.”

Despite the popularity of the bread, Grey Matlock Bakery soon discovered
that customers were still opting to purchase pre-sliced loaves from larger
supermarkets, as they reduced the time and effort required to prepare
lunches for school or work. As a result, the company began offering sliced
Agege bread under the name Butterfilled to cater to this demand. The
original name was often challenging for prospective customers to pronounce.


Franchises for future growth – across North America and beyond


Currently, the bread can be found in more than 300 Afro-Caribbean stores
nationwide. It is also available in more than 50 outlets of large
supermarket chains such as No Frills, Real Canadian Superstores and Loblaws.

The original bakery in Brampton, Ontario, produces bread going to Quebec,
New Brunswick, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and even
Saskatchewan. Grey Matlock also opened a second bakery in Calgary, in the
province of Alberta, that distributes as far as British Columbia.

“Even with the two locations, we were disappointing customers that lived
far away, and we realised we needed to look at a different model,” says
Rabiu. Consequently, Grey Matlock made the strategic decision to offer
franchise licences to interested parties.

“We are letting people, who would have been competition, build our brand,”
says Rabiu. There are four franchise locations in Ontario, each paying the
company royalties as part of the licence agreement.

While the original Agege bread remains the bakery’s bestseller, Grey
Matlock Bakery has since diversified its offerings to include other types of
bread and baked goods such as whole wheat bread and bread buns.

Rabiu is dreaming big. A recent viral video has helped queries come in from
as far abroad as Australia. However, the first big goal is to become a
national Canadian bread brand that can compete with the likes of Dempster’s
and Wonder Bread.

The next step would be to expand with franchises into the US. There has
also been some interest from the UK.

“Thanks to the growth we’ve seen, that is how our vision has shifted
already,” says Rabiu. “In the next couple of years, maybe we will see if we
can sell into every part of the world.”



Grey Matlock Bakery’s Agege bread

 

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