28 Mar 2022

'Mmammidi’ – a prominent eatery business in Phase two – Gaborone keeps up its daily production through strategically positioning its economies of scale to meet daily targeted sales. Ms Tshepiso Marumo, a founder and director of Mmammidi – a mouth-watering traditional cuisine joint that upholds indigenous menus, is a business lady and a graduate in Broadcasting and Journalism from Limkokwing University.

In an interview yesterday regarding trickle-down effects of inflation in her business, she undeniably expressed her worry about food prices skyrocketing almost every two months.

“We serve lunch daily, and inflation has affected us a lot as small businesses especially us street vendors because our prices are based on perceived market rates, which often don’t compare to current financial shifts,” she said.

Nonetheless, our business processes were not anyhow different from that of giant caterers or retail stores, as we often pay for marketing campaigns, staff wages, and battling with acquiring expensive groceries, she said.

Despite the rising inflation and increased food costs, Ms Marumo said the market they served does not allow them to increase prices and, it’s often difficult for them to make desired profit margins.

“We are not flexible to adjust prices based on inflation patterns experienced in the market and that has propelled us to pull our resources elsewhere trying to patch up for what is lacking in our production,” she said.

Ms Marumo said currently they were selective had on what they put in their grocery trolleys – with fruits and vegetables being among the first to get the cut.

She maintained that purchasing prices for fruit and vegetables sprung beyond affordability, as such their new strategic thrust impelled them to start ploughing their vegetables as a cost-cutting major.

 “I am getting lerotse, merogo, tomatoes, and onions from my ploughing fields in trying to reduce daily business costs.

It’s just a lot on us,” she said. She reiterated that small businesses often give packaging plastics to customers for free whereas big retail stores offer them at a cost.

For that reason, she maintained that they had adopted the trend of selling packaging material as a way of boosting their daily sales and ultimately beating inflation.

Ms Marumo indicated that though they were doing all they could to survive inflation, in some situations they found it difficult to maneuver around some hurdles that resulted from recent inflation patterns.

For instance, cooking oil which stems among their daily ingredient has gone from P29.95 to P60.00 and it could not be substituted by anything else, let alone be produced, she said.

To appreciate the far-reaching increment on food staffs, BOPA interviewed local retail chain store Choppies and Fours Cash and Carry to appreciate new food prices.

Choppies Mogoditshane, assistant store manager Ms Doreen Dube confirmed that recent inflation has affected prices of their combo deals; a promotion ran monthly that included, White star – maize meal 12.5kg, Tastic rice 10kg, Old gold tomato sauce 750ml, Mayonnaise 750ml, Delight Cooking oil 2l, and Choppies macaroni 3kg. Ms Dube said initially their combo deals were sold at P199.95 and now with a recent price adjustment, it’s sold at P269.95, making it steep for Motswana to afford.

She added that in trying to boost customer affordability, they decided to withdraw macaroni from the promotion and replace known brands with those that were much cheaper.

As for the much talked about cooking oil, Ms Dube confirmed that within two months their prices sprung from P39.00 to P66.95, and warned of yet another increment shortly.

Fours Cash and Carry Mogoditshane Store Manager Mr Martin Kaitjaerua said the pushed up inflation was bound to automatically affect their combo deals.

The store manager said that in retaining their customer base they strategically maintain their old prices with the view that customers would make frequent visits to their stores, one thing that was likely to boost their sales.

He said to date, they had deliberately started running promotions every weekend as a way of aligning themselves with government weekly paydays.

With these unprecedented price increases on food staff, Ms Marumo of Mmammidi eatery urged fellow businessmen in the catering business to move away from running entities from hand to mouth.

She said it was about time that small eatery businesses adopted clear visions and developmental strategies which would ensure their sustenance, especially during times like these.

Ms Marumo highlighted that in their nature, eatery business was somewhat easy to develop into a franchise provided one stick to proper principles of adequately running it wisely and maintaining a good brand that customers could easily resonate with.

“This is a business, not a hobby, so build your brand decisively, serve your customers diligently, and leave a legacy,” she stated. ENDS