Welcome to Businessanthem. Do you wish to set up a successful and profitable frozen foods business in Nigeria? Then you have landed on the right page. We present successful ideas on how to start and run a profitable frozen food business in Nigeria.
Our aim is to guide you with the right information, and steps to set up and manage a profitable frozen foods business in Nigeria
Numerous individuals are amassing substantial wealth in the frozen foods business in Nigeria, and we firmly believe that with prudent engagement, you too can achieve success in this endeavor.
Frozen Foods Business in Nigeria
Frozen foods are one of the best business ideas In Nigeria. It includes the marketing of fish, turkey, prawns, chicken, gizzards, and select vegetables for consumption.
The frozen foods industry is lucrative, especially in Nigeria. Because of the rapid increase in population, there is a greater demand for frozen food than the supply chain can currently meet.
The frozen food business in Nigeria is growing quickly because the market is always available. The higher daily demand for homes and restaurants and constant events happening such as birthday parties, weddings, ceremonies, and festivals, keep the frozen food business in Nigeria bumming.
Frozen foods
Frozen foods refer to food products that are kept and conserved at temperatures approximately -18°C to -25°C. Among the most frequently encountered frozen food items in Nigeria are fish, chicken, turkey, beef, prawns, pork, and perishable goods.
Frozen foods are celebrated for their convenience, heightened safety, and superior hygiene. Their reduced susceptibility to bacterial contamination and foodborne microorganisms in living organisms makes them a preferred choice.
How to Start A Lucrative Frozen Food Business in Nigeria
1. Develop A Good Business Plan
Your business plan for your Frozen Foods Business in Nigeria should outline your vision, your target market, your pricing strategy, your marketing plan, and your financial projections.
Your business plan will serve as a roadmap for your business and help you stay focused on your goals.
The strategy in place first is to avoid any form of failure in the near future this requires conducting thorough research and then drafting a feasibility report on the business with a focus on the frozen food industry in Nigeria.
2. Register Your Business With The Relevant Authority and Association
Frozen Foods Business in Nigeria will need Registration with the appropriate body for security reasons. It also serves as a protection for your business, because it keeps you abreast of what is happening within your sector.
Find out detailed information before joining any association, because some associates will affect your business negatively.
2. Decide on Your Product Line
In terms of demand, frozen foods business in Nigeria, seafood and poultry products tend to outshine fruits. It’s advisable to commence with those products that enjoy higher popularity before diversifying into other categories. The primary goal is to discern the specific preferences of the local customers regarding both products and their varieties.
Start with products that people in that area consume more. You will also, need more freezers to separate your products if you are dealing with fish and poultry food.
Fish gives a terrible smell, and storing it together with other products will affect and give you bad business. Those who hate fish because of the smell or for other reasons may be discouraged from patronizing those products affected by fish smell.
3. Properly Plan Your Storage System
Refrigerators and other cooling systems are the most needed equipment in operating a frozen food business. Properly Plan the scale you want to start and the storage facilities you need to purchase so that you will get things right.
frozen food business depends on how reliable or inefficient your storage facility is. Investing in high-quality refrigerators is the key to the success of your business.
4. Source For Capital For Your Frozen Food Business
To start a frozen foods business in Nigeria will need a sufficient amount of capital to start and run it successfully. There are several ways to generate funds for your business, including loans from the government, microfinance banks, grants,
5. Decide A Suitable Location
Selecting the Perfect Site for Your Frozen Foods Enterprise is critical to your eventual success, there are factors that will ensure your ultimate success. Consider the following guidelines to choose the best location:
- It can be in the market, or a good store along a busy road.
- A location that is easy to access
- Highly populated environment, or nearness to the market
- A location that has access to the source of regular power supply is an advantage
- A location with ease of waste disposal. The frozen foods business, no doubt, generates quite a lot of waste, your business location must be easily accessible to evacuate all solid waters like cartons, nylons, boxes, and off-cuts, among others.
Also, See: 10 Most Profitable Livestock Farming In Nigeria
6. Needed Equipment For Frozen Food Business in Nigeria
Understanding the essential tools and amenities needed to operate a frozen foods business in Nigeria is vital.
- Running water system
- Manual/electric cutting machine
- Tables, buckets, Bowls, and chairs
- Standard weighing scale for measuring products
- Panel truck or wheelbarrow for carrying heavy loads
- Hand gloves, Apron, Plastic or rubber shoes, and (Personal Protective Equipment). Fire extinguisher and first aid box.
- Freezer
- Knives (Big and small)
- Chisel
- Generator
- Workspace
- Fan/air conditioner
- Water container
- Cartons of food to be sold
- Wooden boards
- Aprons
- Cabinet
- Waste bin, etc
7. Get A Cold Room Power Supply
A cold room is a specially designed enclosure that is well insulated to prevent direct thermal flow out of the room in order to keep perishable frozen food items from spoiling.
A Cold room typically uses electricity and a diesel generator, gas generator, or solar power. Before you can choose from any of those power supplies, you should consider some factors such as
- It is easy to operate
- It eliminates food loss
- It is efficient
- Expenses
- Eco-friendly i.e. it is environmentally friendly because it is noiseless.
- It is easy to maintain
- It is durable
Also, See: Top 40 Cheapest Businesses To Start In Nigeria
How to Run a Frozen Food Business in Nigeria
1. Sourcing of Frozen Foods
It’s a good practice to purchase items from companies that consistently maintain their cold storage facilities. Opting to buy directly from importers can result in significant savings and reduced hassle. As a general guideline, prioritize the purchase and storage of fresh food products. Diligently confirm the state or quality of the product before buying or allowing it into your cold room facility.
2. Contraband items
Properly source for your goods. Ensure government policy is adhered to strictly if your business must succeed, and avoid pitfalls of contraband supply.
Useful Tips: Frozen foods are regulated under an arm of NAFDAC, and the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON). However, there is no stringent rule or regulation that is capable of posing any form of threat for now.
Make sure your business is officially registered with the appropriate municipal authorities to safeguard yourself from potential disturbances or difficulties.
3. Improper transportation
A lot of perishable items get damaged in transit as a result of poor cooling. Industrial freezers in Nigeria help ensure your products a perfectly frozen before transportation over a long supply distance.
Also, See; Transport Business in Nigeria: 12 Successful Steps And Ideas
4. Goods Theft
Place security as the top priority, implement CCTV for remote monitoring, and establish a robust routine stock control and auditing system, emphasizing its importance.
5. Improper Staffing
Irrespective of the size of your cold room storage business, employ competent professionals to run and manage the investment with you.
6. Waste management/Hygiene
Maintain a Clean Business Environment at all Times.
Maintaining cleanliness is of utmost importance because an untidy environment can deter potential customers from patronizing your establishment. Regular cleaning and proper waste disposal are essential and freshness in your frozen food business establishment.
7. Use of log sheet
Startup temperature and closing temperature must be logged every day for proper reference and monitoring of cold room performance.
8. The Power Supply to the Cold Room
The Power supply to the Cold room is like a life wire, thus you must ensure it’s uninterrupted at any time. Do routine checks and maintenance.
9. Understanding The suitable Temperature
Don’t stock, freeze, or store perishable poultry or seafood products under negative temperatures.
The ideal cold storage facility for frozen foods, particularly for items such as fish, meat, turkey, chicken, and ice cream, is maintained at a carefully controlled temperature that falls within the range of -18°C to -20°C.
However, if you will operate on a commercially large scale, you may need to also acquire a blast freezer, operating within -250 C to -400 C, which can help you to fast-freeze the foods within minutes, and then transfer them for cold storage inside a cold room.
Also, See: Top 34 Daily Income Businesses In Nigeria
10 Access control
Make an effort to minimize the frequency of opening and closing your cold room as much as you can. Your cold room will lose operating energy if you leave it open too frequently.
11. Build Your Customer Base
Build Your Customer Base by identifying who your customers are and what kind of products sell more. In most environments in Nigeria, seafood and poultry foods sell more.
Try as much as possible to attract, win, and keep your customers to make prosper in the business.
12. Pricing strategy
Let your pricing be competitive, always prepare for peak periods, festive seasons, and off-peak periods with the right incentives for your customers to keep them coming to you year-round.
13. Business Integrity
Also, See: Nigerian Restaurant: 42 Must-Try Nigerian Dishes
Last but not least, let integrity be a core value with which you relate to your customers. Keep your business promises and let your customers’ interests or concerns be satisfied.
14. Customer care
Develop a good customer relationship and an innovative marketing strategy designed to attract prospective clients to your enterprise.
Risks Involved in the Frozen Food Business in Nigeria
Knowing the risks or challenges in the frozen food business, and preparing to effectively mitigate them will make or mar your success in the venture. The following are major risks in frozen food business and their possible solutions.
1. Unstable Power (Electricity) Supply
Plan to use a backup Generator (Gasoline or Solar): Or identify a business location with a steady electricity supply.
Power supply is one of the most important factors you must get right if you must invest in the frozen foods business in Nigeria, hence you must prepare to acquire and run a power generator.
Most cold rooms and Industrial freezers in Nigeria are powered by three-phase engines. You will need standard stabilizers to complement whatever voltage the public power supply is providing you.
Also, you need to factor the cost of running alternative power into your business startup and running cost outlay, or else you may run into troubles if not properly captured.
2. Cold room breakdown
It is advisable to construct a cold room in a sheltered and protected area with a well-maintained floor to ensure its optimal performance. Moreover, when installing a cold room in an environment prone to dust, regular servicing is essential as dust can significantly hinder its functionality.
A frozen food business in Nigeria desires a well-insulated cold room because of the tropical climate in Nigeria which produces a dusty environment. A cold room must be serviced regularly as the dust will always hamper the cold room from functioning well.
Establishing a strong maintenance service partnership with a responsive team and striving to maintain a backup unit.
3. Food spoilage
- Use FIFO (first in, first out – product handling is a very good practice) Technique
- Proper stacking is very important, don’t block the airflow system in/out of your cold room.
- Keep an operational log sheet for effective monitory and fault detection in your cold room
Conclusion
A Frozen food business in Nigeria is one of the most profitable businesses some individuals who invested in this business are making money in this lucrative business
Nigerian meals usually accompanying with fish, meat, or chicken, and so the demand for frozen food business in Nigeria is on a high increase. There will always be a need for frozen food consumption every day.
Paying attention to customer feedback will help in growing your frozen food business in Nigeria. Good business management skill is a prerequisite for your overall success in the frozen foods business in Nigeria. Prudent management of customers, staff, equipment, and making profits is crucial to the survival of the business.