Business News
These brands are fighting hard to topple Gala as Nigeria’s ‘Sausage king’
Sausage roll is a piece of sausage meat baked in a roll of spiced pastry or dough.
Sausage roll is a piece of sausage meat baked in a roll of spiced pastry or dough. It has become an on-the-go snack that most Nigerians have come to trust and rely on, especially when hungry and trapped in heavy traffic — a common experience in Lagos and other big cities.
Sausage roll made its entry into the Nigerian market with Gala, the first brand from the stables of UAC foods, in 1962. Since then, it has become the generic name for sausage roll in the country.
In the past, it was only available in Lagos and for those residents outside the state, it was a luxury and a must-buy whenever they went to Lagos. The love for Gala cut across all ages, and social classes, as adults and children relished the gift of Gala sausage roll from Lagos.
Market Outlook
Over the years, there have been several new entrants into the sausage roll market, hence, challenging the dominance of UAC’s Gala. Regardless, Gala still enjoys a lot of patronage and goodwill.
Currently, several multinational brands are engaged in a battle to gain market share — brands such as Leventis Foods Limited (makers of Meaty sausage roll), Chi Limited (owners of SuperBite beef sausage roll and Beefy beef roll), Food Concept (owners of Yum Yum beef roll), and Rite Foods Limited (makers of Rite and Bigi beef rolls).
Interestingly, the availability of various product retail sizes across brands has bridged the affordability gap between the affluent and the indigent consumers, making the battle for greater market share stiffer, while reducing the impact of price differences.
One of the major players in the market is Leventis Foods Limited, a subsidiary of A.G. Leventis (Nigeria) Plc, and owners of the largest bakeries in the country.
The company recently embarked on an expansion drive of its production capacity with the construction of other lines to produce quality snacks and beef rolls. These include the “Meaty” sausage rolls, “Hotty” and “Mini Hotty” spicy rolls.
Also, United Africa Company (UAC Foods), makers of the popular Gala sausage roll, introduced a bigger package of the product into the Nigerian market. The new roll is twice the size of the regular sausage roll and it sells for twice the price of the former.
Another major player in the sausage roll market is Rite Foods, makers of the Bigi beef sausage roll, Rite sausage roll and the Rite Spicy brand.
The value proposition of these brands
The intense battle for market share has paved the way for targeting consumers on price, taste, beefy content, attractive packaging and availability to drive sales.
Bigi, produced by Rite Foods, is actually big in size, and its value proposition is the satisfaction of the hungry man, while SuperBite, produced by Chi, is very tasty and spicy. Also, Meaty fills the gap for consumers who are missing the original size of the beef inside the sausage roll.
It is also interesting to note that all these brands are affordable and come at the same price of N50. However, Gala sausage roll comes in two packages: Gala Mini and Gala Mega which go for N50 and N100 respectively. Thus, the target of Gala Mega would be the consumers who are willing to spend more for better satisfaction.
What consumers say
A survey of consumers’ choice by Nairametrics shows that a large number of consumers of sausage rolls love to snack on them while stuck in traffic, buy them as gifts for their children when going home after work, or use them as in-between-work meals. Most times, they are accompanied with soft drinks. Some consumers lamented about the reduction in the size of sausage inside the rolls.
A hawker around Bonny camp in Lagos, who gave his name as Mohammed, noted that some customers are selective in the brands of sausage rolls they buy.
In his words:
“I have to run and attend to my customers and I sell very fast during peak periods after work, especially inside hold-ups. Yum Yum roll sells very fast, but when not available, they request for Rite sausage roll, Superbite, and Gala.”
He also revealed that hawkers usually have various brands on display.
Another hawker around Ikeja Along railway area in Ikeja noted that most consumers prefer to snack on the sausage rolls with cold soft drinks; in fact, some buyers will not patronise you if you do not have the soft drinks to accompany them.
In her words:
“I sell it with soft drinks to make my sales faster. My customers just want a snack that can fill their stomachs till they get home, so they look out for the biggest on my display.”
Asked if the introduction of the bigger Gala size, which goes for N100, has increased her sales, she said:
“My customers don’t like the N100 own o! They tell me it is too expensive and that they like the N50 own. Gala no be food na! It is just a snack.”
Owner of a retail outlet in Ogba, identified as Mrs. Chikaodi also noted that most customers refer to all the brands as Gala. She, however, noted that the products move very fast, although the commission is not much.
She further revealed that she normally buys a dozen of each brand which costs N500 and sells at N50 each. This gives her a profit of N100 on a dozen.
Asked why she goes for the dozen pack, she said that the snacks have short “lifespans” of just 10 days, after which they expire and get rejected by her customers. She further revealed that the more brands you have in your store, the more sales you make.
Regulators NAFDAC and CPC
Regulatory agencies such as the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC) need to tackle the high prevalence of expired sausage rolls in the market and ensure that makers of these products adhere to the best production standards. A visit to some retail outlets within Lagos showed large quantities of expired products on sale for unsuspecting members of the public.
The verdict
Nairametrics also conducted a poll on notable brands in the Nigerian market. 78% of the participants voted for Gala as their preferred brand, while others like SuperBite had 11%, Bigi had 7%, and Meaty had 4%.
Gala has become the generic name for all the sausage roll brands in the market and the goodwill enjoyed by Gala has also rubbed off on the acceptability of other brands in the market. No doubt the common language in the sausage roll market is Gala.
Consumer Goods
Floods disrupt operations in Flour Mills’ Sugar Estate
Heavy floods at Flour Mills’ Sunti Golden Sugar Estate has disrupted its operations.
Sunti Golden Sugar Estate (SGSE), owned by Flour Mills, has suffered some disruptions to its operations as floodwater breached the Sugar Estate.
This information was gathered by Nairametrics from a notification sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange and signed by the Company’s Secretary, Umolu Joseph A. O.
The largest miller by market capitalization, explains that the floods were as a result of the long rainfalls recorded recently at the northern and central parts of the Niger basin, as the floods were triggered by severe downpours at the Sokoto Rima basin, and as a consequence, the Kainji and Jeba dams witnessed an upsurge in the lateral flow of water.
The Management stated that SGSE has suffered some disruptions to operations, as the resulting high inflows in the downstream Niger River caused a breach to the extensive and properly designed dyke systems at Sunti Golden Sugar Estates (SGSE).
This development is expected to delay the expansion project, geared towards increasing the area under cultivation to 4,000 hectares by mid-2021.
The Miller assures stakeholders, that there is no immediate threat to the earlier indicated earnings projections of FMN, as immediate safety protocols have been instituted to safeguard employees, property and equipment. Hence the breach is not foreseen to impact the overall performance of the Group.
The company informs investors and other key stakeholders that the actual state of damage to the current sugarcane crop at Sunti, can only truly be assessed once the floodwater subsides, and ensures that it will release further details in due course as the need arises.
Shares of Flour Mills at the end of the trading session on Friday closed at N21.50, and this is 6.70% higher than the market opening price for the day, 8.59% higher than the market opening price for the week, and 14.36% higher than the market opening price for the month. While the YTD gains stood at 9.14%.
Flour Mills shares are currently trading in the overbought zones, going with the agreement of Technical Momentum Indicators, like the William Percentage Range, the Relative Strength Index and its stochastic variant, as the shares of the company are driven by strong fundamentals.
In like manners, the company shares currently trade at 21.15x earnings per share (EPS), and 0.57x book value per share (BVPS), with a Market capitalization of N81.628 billion.
Hospitality & Travel
Aviation Unions threaten to shut airspace on Monday, as NLC insists on strike
All aviation workers are directed to withdraw their services at all aerodromes nationwide on 28th September 2020.
Major aviation unions in Nigeria have threatened to shut the nation’s airspace in support of the Organised Labour nationwide industrial action expected to commence on Monday, September 28, 2020.
The unions are the National Union of Air Transport Employees, National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria and the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals.
This was disclosed by the General Secretary of the National Union of Aviation Employees, Aba Ocheme, in a statement, according to Vanguard.
The unions reportedly asked their members to withdraw services from all aerodromes nationwide indefinitely.
He said, “As such all workers in the aviation sector are hereby directed to withdraw their services at all aerodromes nationwide as from 00hrs of 28th September 2020 until otherwise communicated by the NLC/TUC or our unions. All workers shall comply.”
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress on Friday also insisted that it will go on with its planned mass action scheduled for Monday, September 28.
In a communique by its General Secretary, Comrade Emmanuel Ugboaja, the NLC asked its members across the nation to come out in large numbers to protest the increase in fuel and electricity prices.
The order was given despite a fresh court order obtained by the Federal Government, barring the NLC and the Trade Union Congress from embarking on their planned strike scheduled to commence on Monday.
Ugboaja explained that the NLC has asked all National Leadership of affiliates in Abuja to mobilise at least 2,000 of their members to Unity Fountain, Abuja for the mass rally which takes off at 7am.
Also, affiliates are expected to mobilise the same number of members to the NLC Sub-Secretariat, 29, Olajuwon Street, Yaba, Lagos, which is the take-off point for the Lagos action at 7am also.
Business
It would be difficult to find loans to finance rail to Niger Republic – Cheta Nwanze
Finding loans to finance rail to the Niger Republic would be difficult, says Cheta Nwanze.
Cheta Nwanze, Lead Partner at socioeconomic research firm, SBM Intelligence, says that it would be difficult to find loan financiers for the proposed $1.9 billion rail project from Kano to Maradi in Niger republic.
Cheta, in an interview with Nairametrics on Friday, explained that it appears that Nigeria is more keen on the project than Niger Republic.
Back story: Nairametrics reported this week that the Federal Executive Council has approved the disbursement of $1.96 billion, for the railway line from Kano in Nigeria to Maradi in Niger Republic.
According to the report, the President is also expected to commission the Warri-Itakpe standard gauge rail line, running through Kogi, Edo, and Delta States.
“Nigeria is investing so much in this rail line, given that we are Niger’s 4th largest trading partner,” Cheta said.
He added that Niger, although being landlocked already, has an existing infrastructure for its imports and export services, which is much better utilized than Nigeria’s export infrastructure.
“The majority of their imports from France, China, and the USA come in via the port of Lome, precisely because the port in Lome works, and the rail link in Togo is much better than ours.
“Nigeria, on the other hand, has let its Apapa port to become a wreck, while transportation between Lagos and Kano/Jibia is a nightmare, if we’re being charitable with words.”
(READ MORE: Trade and Investments, a way out of Nigeria’s economic troubles – Fola Fagbule)
According to him, with the reality of the Apapa congestion and other factors, finding fund for such project, when debt to service ratio is high and amidst reduced oil revenue, will be difficult.
“With these realities in mind, I find it difficult to imagine who will extend such a loan to Nigeria, especially since, as far as all the information available to me indicates, Niger does not seem as keen on pushing this as Nigeria does,” he added.
However, the media aide to President Buhari, Garba Shehu, disclosed that the Federal Government is not constructing a rail line from Nigeria linking Kano-Dutse-Maradi into the Niger Republic, as it will only stop at the designated border point.
Maradi is 55km from the Katsina border Town of Jibia.
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Attiogbe enoch
January 30, 2020 at 10:50 am
will love to have your email so i write to you about the market in GHANA for Gala sausage in Ghana,Accra were i reside.
Nairametrics
January 30, 2020 at 2:01 pm
Hello Enoch, send a mail to [email protected]