How the Bigg Have Fallen

Founded in 1986, Mr Bigg’s upheld its title as the first and best fast-food restaurant in Nigeria for decades. For many Nigerians, stopping at Mr Bigg’s for their undefeated meat pies and Jollof rice and chicken after school, or church on Sundays, was a custom.

Mr Bigg’s was the original family-friendly restaurant in Nigeria, with several of its locations housing play areas where children could keep busy while their parents waited in line to order food for the family. At its various locations, kids could even be inspired and thrilled by the iconic Supa Strikas comics, which told the story of young Shegs Okoro and his intriguing life on and off the football pitch. Mr Bigg’s was one of the sponsors of Supa Strikas in Nigeria, so customers could buy the comics at the restaurant or get the comics along with some meals.

In line with their family-friendly theme, Mr Bigg’s held ‘family days’ and threw the most epic children’s birthday parties in the late 90s and early 2000s. For millennials like Lola, a writer and entrepreneur who frequented Mr Bigg’s in her youth, a Mr Bigg’s party was the apex of coolness. In her words, ‘if you didn’t have one of those [parties at Mr Bigg’s], you weren’t cool. And if you didn’t get invited, you might as well not exist’. The restaurant’s ‘Double Delight’ and ‘Triple Delight’ birthday cakes, featuring Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry flavours were also the stuff of legend.

While it may be the equivalent of going to Chicken Republic nowadays, in the early 2000s, Mr Bigg’s was the ideal date spot—early Nollywood movies can attest to this. Think a charming Desmond Elliott professing his undying love to a blushing Genevieve Nnaji while she nibbles on her ice cream. (Well, that was before ice cream dates became so controversial). Moreso, nowadays, a fast-food restaurant is definitely the last place anyone would want to go for a first date. The typically far-from-intimate ambience and rowdiness hardly provide the right setting for two people getting to know each other.

Mr Bigg’s was the ultimate fast-food restaurant in Nigeria for decades and its reach was made apparent in inter-state travels. Whether you just needed a proper place to use the loo or were in desperate need of quality food to sate your hunger, it was the one restaurant you could count on finding in virtually every city along the way. Abiola, who resided in Lagos and regularly travelled to her boarding secondary school in nearby Ogun State in the 2010s, relied on the Mr Bigg’s joint on the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway for its meat-pies and sausage rolls for all five of her school years. ‘Pizza Inn came and left. Other restaurants came and left too, but Mr Bigg’s never changed. It was always there,’ Abiola shared.

For Lagos-born lawyer, Adenike and her mum, the Mr Bigg’s branch by a lonely road in Egbeda, Lagos was a lifesaver during a 2011 trip. They had boarded a Benin Republic-bound bus, but after making several stops around the city to pick up her mum’s colleagues, they found themselves famished and in need of immediate relief before the journey had even begun—cue in Mr Bigg’s coming to the rescue. ‘Every time someone says “Mr Bigg’s” to me, I remember that trip and how they were just there by the road, and we were able to buy food and use the convenience,’ Adenike fondly recounted. Nowadays though, Mr Bigg’s has been relegated to being a fixture of back-in-the-day tales and a point of surprise for those who are not aware of its current operations.

IN THE BEGINNING…

Although Mr Bigg’s officially started in 1986, its roots can actually be traced back to Kingsway Departmental Stores, which some would say was the ‘Walmart of Nigeria’ back in the 50s to mid-80s. Kingsway was originally set up by the United African Company of Nigeria (UAC or UACN) in Lagos and had several locations across major cities in Nigeria. The prestigious stores had in-house snack and coffee stands which evolved into a small fast-food chain called Kingsway Rendezvous in 1973.

When Kingsway was forced to close down due to the decline of the economy and stringent restrictions on imports during (then) Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s regime (1983-1985), UACN decided to continue with Kingsway Rendezvous, but this time on a larger scale and under the name of Mr Bigg’s. According to Oby Igodan, who joined UACN as a Management Trainee in 1986 and rose to the ranks of General Manager of Franchising after 19 years, there was a strong expatriate community in Nigeria at the time.

This made establishing the first quick service restaurant (QSR) in the country a golden opportunity. Expats would easily gravitate towards Mr Bigg’s as it bore a resemblance to fast food chains in their home countries. Moreover, Peter Tilbey, a Briton, was at the helm of the Mr Bigg’s establishment and so could leverage his connections with other expats to drive sales.

After a vigorous phase of market research, the first Mr Bigg’s restaurant was launched in Marina, an area where, in Igodan’s words, ‘the working class had dominance’. The combination of this demographic’s sufficient purchasing power and its demand for quick, quality meals, made it the primary target market for the restaurant. UAC would then go on to launch other branches across the city that became so successful that the company decided to expand nationwide. UACn already had a heavy presence across several cities in Nigeria, so its existing structure could be leveraged for the Mr Bigg’s expansion.

However, UACN recognized that they would have to conduct more intensive research to sustain a truly exceptional national QSR brand. When the Mr Bigg’s franchising model was conceived in 2002, Igodan was sent to Aberdeen, Scotland to study the operations of global QSR chains like McDonald’s—after which Mr Bigg’s was fashioned—and Burger King. When she got back, she advised the adoption of a model that featured a mix of franchises and homegrown branches; about 10 per cent of the branches nationwide would be owned by franchisees while the remaining 90 per cent would be owned by UACN itself. Mr Bigg’s was one of the first companies to adopt a franchising model in Nigeria.

Naturally, the idea did not take much to hit the ground running as Mr Bigg’s had built a formidable reputation in its nearly two decades of operation. Consequently, many people were interested in buying into and being associated with the brand. Franchisees would have to put together the startup capital for their branches and pay a licensing fee in exchange for the rights to Mr Bigg’s established name and access to its supply chain and trademarks. According to Igodan, in the 2000s, owning a franchise could cost between N20-30 million in less urban areas in Lagos, and up to N50 million in more urban areas like Marina and Victoria Island.

Still, many investors flocked towards the brand as it held a lot of prestige and was a profitable venture in its early days. At the time, the Nigerian public relished the level of sophistication they could get in terms of food quality, customer service and ambience at Mr Bigg’s. Believe it or not, eating in an air-conditioned restaurant was a big deal back in the day, and the computerized service was somewhat of a spectacle, especially in the less developed cities where Mr Bigg’s was located.

Additionally, in the early 2000s, Mr Bigg’s forged a partnership with Mobil. Anywhere you saw a Mobil filling station, you could almost always count on having your fill of both fuel and food. The partnership was brilliant and mutually beneficial. For Mobil, it gave them an edge over competitors; it gave customers the chance to kill two birds with one stone by making a single stop for both products. On the other hand, even if Mobil customers were not initially interested in getting food, the sight and scent of a Mr Bigg’s joint was irresistible.

WHEN THINGS FELL APART

Mr Bigg’s’ expansion was initially wildly successful, with the restaurant having over 170 branches across more than 40 cities in Nigeria and even in Ghana, as of 2006. However, things started to go downhill when the brand increased its franchising ratio. While a greater number of franchisees bolstered expansion, it also adversely affected quality control. Franchisees would do things their own way or cut corners to save costs, so there was hardly a unified Mr Bigg’s standard nationally or even across the same city anymore. At some point, UACN even cut franchisees loose from their supply chain and allowed them to find their own.

Additionally, many franchisees backed out after being choked by the hardships of operating a restaurant business in Nigeria. Igodan, who was offered a restaurant upon leaving UACN in 2005 and ran her own Mr Bigg’s branch in Abuja for 9 years, cited issues such as unreliable power supply, cut-throat electricity bills, supply chain issues, local government levies, signboard and radio license fees for playing music in the restaurant, as well as the all-too-familiar issue of workers stealing from the business. These issues were not unique to Mr Bigg’s, but they certainly compounded the already existing problem of a decline in consumer demand due to decreased quality and increased competition.

Subscribe to our free newsletter

You're in — welcome to The Republic

Complete your onboarding

Read

Connect

Apps

More

Read

Connect

Apps

More

How the Bigg Have Fallen

IN THE BEGINNING…

WHEN THINGS FELL APART

You’ve Reached Your Limit of Free Reading.

Ad-Free Reading Experience

Unlimited Access to Exclusive Archives

In-Depth Deep-dive Reporting

You’ve Reached Your Limit of Free Reading.

Ad-Free Reading Experience

Unlimited Access to Exclusive Archives

In-Depth Deep-dive Reporting

Comments

SHOP THE REPUBLIC

Related Stories

Who Will Succeed Pastor E. A. Adeboye?

The ‘Electronic Imam’ Who Rewrote Nigerian Islam

A Bird in Flight

Good News

Reclamation Across the Atlantic