How to Start A Frozen Food Business In Nigeria

Want to learn what it takes to start a Frozen food business in Nigeria? This article is all you need as it is one of the fast-growing business In Nigeria.

Yes I know, in those days it used to be freshly made food from the scratch and not frozen food but let us not forget that electricity could not be boasted of then.

Natural source of light was all that was had including the cock crows for time. These ancient times were not void of preservation for foods but frozen food was almost always absent except for cold season.

Besides, considering the stress less simple way of life then, to the present hustling and bustling life we live today, they did not really need frozen foods.

Those times are far gone in the urban areas and frozen foods are less expensive and time saving than the fresh produce.

While cooking freshly made food and storing in the refrigerator in batches, automatically labeling these meals as frozen foods, they are not really exempted when talking about frozen food sales in Nigeria.

Yes! There is such a thing as frozen food biz in Nigeria, how about shedding more light on the question…

What Is Frozen Food Business In Nigeria?

Talk about Nigerian foods and frozen foods come to mind. The year 1861 saw the shipping of the first type of frozen food followed by frozen chicken and geese in the year 1885.

Did you know that the first frozen food to be shipped was meat?

The frozen food biz became a type of importation and exportation business fourteen years later; it has not ceased to be so though.

By the year 1929, Clarence Birdseye had made frozen food sales a bigger deal than it was and it was widely accepted.

Today, you mention frozen food in Nigeria and you see images of decapitated and skinned frozen chicken and its parts, iced fishes, and other frozen food on a scale.

The scale and a type of frozen food just combine themselves in the picture. The frozen business has gotten to that level so no need beating round the bush on this one.

Frozen food biz in Nigeria involves the sales of cold preserved foods that can include seafood, poultry products, and other frozen foods, not exempting frozen veggies.

Those who run a restaurant business demand frozen food and other supplies to serve their customers.

Types of Frozen Food In Nigeria

As the need to invest more time in other areas increased so did the time to prepare a meal and frozen foods gave that.

It became household normality and kitchen convenience. The business itself has not only become older in years.

It has embraced every change that came with the generation it saw, evidence can be seen in the better packaging of frozen food and more products accommodated as frozen foods.

Today there are more varieties of frozen food than when it first started out as a business.

You might not see these foods at that frozen food shop in your area but it does not exempt them from the list. They include:

• Sea foods (this includes fish like sardine or shawa, croaker, titus, panla, etc and other sea related foods).
• Poultry products (chicken wings, whole chicken, chicken laps, orobo, turkey, gizzard, chicken neck, etc).
• Animal based products ( red meat, goat meat, inu eran, hotdogs, getc )
• Cow skin
• Vegetables (chopped potatoes, lettuce, etc)
• Fruit juice
• Snails

Frozen Food Sales Profitable In Nigeria?

The sales of frozen food is almost as profitable as the oil business in Nigeria, in short, it is.

For some families, frozen food is non-negotiable considering how busy the mother schedule is.

I remember eating more frozen fish and chicken than live ones except on religious holidays when there was enough time to do fresh and sly frozen food.

You see fish sellers on the increase daily with their carton packed basin, mounted on their heads and you wonder how these people endure such sun beat for this kind of frozen food sales.

You cannot justify the number of frozen food shop in your area and noticed that some have closed up but the number has not diminished.

Then you ask yourself ‘is frozen food business profitable in Nigeria?’ the answer is yes, it is.

If it was not, Zartech would continue neither would shop rite and other supermarkets sell frozen foods.

How to Start A Frozen Food Business In Nigeria

Here are quick tips to help you succeed in your endeavor to start selling frozen food.

Get Guidance

“It is important to know what you are getting into before jumping into it, else you find yourself jumbling things up”.

Number one thing to do when you want to start a frozen food business in Nigeria is to get adequate knowledge of the business.

It would be an advantage to get practically trained in the food business and not just from your desk and chair with paper and a pen.

This will help shed more light on things you are to do when starting your frozen foods business, the right source of supply, the equipment you are to get first, what association to join and lots more.

Have a Business Plan

A business plan gives you an oversight on the frozen food business.

It entails the following:

• Your frozen food business name.
• Identification of the magnitude of your frozen food business.

• Product Line: This is the part that speaks on the type of frozen food product you want to sell.

An elderly population will prefer more sea foods considering their health.

More frozen poultry products and animal-based products will sell with a younger population.

• Location: This cannot be excluded from your business plan. The success of your frozen food business is peculiar to its location.

It might be expensive but if it has desired potentials then what is the delay in including its cost in the business plan.

• Cost of equipment: For someone starting a frozen food business, the following are important at the initial stage:
• Generator
• Freezers (minimum of two especially if you intend selling two different types of frozen food; fish and chicken for example).
• Measuring scale.
• Table and chairs.
• Aprons or work clothes.
• Plank or wooden boards (for chopping).
• Chisel.
• Cutlasses \ axes \ knives.
• Stainless Bowls.
• Packaging materials.
• Waste bin.
• Staff (optional).
• Truck (depends on if you will distribute).

The frozen food business plan covers areas of competitors’ analysis, cost of supply of goods, marketing and branding strategy costs, etc.

Startup Capital

Now that you know what you getting into, how about we talk about the money you want to use to start the frozen food business.

It is certain that from your business plan you already know the cost of the equipment and other things you need to start the business in Nigeria.

It is at this stage you start answering these questions:

• What is your estimated total cost?
• How can you raise this amount of money?
• Do you have up to that in your account or are you getting a loan?
• Or do you have someone that wants to invest in your frozen food business?

Location

Wherever your frozen food shop will be, ensure it is somewhere accessible to your target market.

In as much as it is to be in urban areas try to ensure it is in close proximity to your customers.

There is no point going for frozen food when the timle it will take you to get it is enough time to start and finish an all round freshly made food.

Customer Base

Customers are said to be the veins of a business, without a good number of customer, your frozen food business shop is food storage for your family.

Good customer service never fails, so build a strong customer base for your frozen food business.

Supply of Goods

‘fa ya wor’ is the popular name for smugglers in Nigeria, while some kill in their farm and refrigerate immediately, others smuggle into the country.

Either way, get reliable sources of supply of frozen food so you are not left high and dry making you unreliable to your customers.

Registration

God bless Nigeria, we have an association for everything even cleaners dey association.

These associations come with their benefits so get registered with your location frozen food association.

Get registered under the necessary bodies especially if your frozen food business will be on the large scale or you will be importing.

Marketing and promotion

A good business will rot in the shadows with no marketing strategy.

Although most frozen food business market themselves it will not be so bad to have a signboard or nice looking placard in front of your shop.

Advertise your frozen food business, promote it and increase your customer base. Now your frozen food business is good to go.

Challenges of Frozen Food Business In Nigeria

Of all the challenges frozen food businesses face in Nigeria, the major threat is electricity.

Frozen foods are perishable goods and the need for electricity to refrigerate is not negotiable.

The epileptic supply of electricity in the country is unreliable for the frozen food business so the best is to have a working stand-by generator.

Another challenge is supply as not everyone can be their own scratch source of supply.

Although smuggling is not new in the business, it is illegal and this has sort of being the major source of frozen food in the country.

The cost of smuggling it in to the country increases the buying rate, hence, the selling rate and this might not be too good for business.

Frozen Food Business In Nigeria (Summary)

Frozen food offers more advantages than to bother with disadvantages in terms of quality, convenience, consistency, minimal to no wastage, availability and affordability when we included business.

It is not going anywhere yet and the world itself is not willing to let it go so why not start that frozen food business today and meet people’s needs while at it.