A Survey of the Chapati Market around the

Eastleigh* Area

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Quick Overview
Chapati business and generally the food economy in the Eastleigh area* (along
Juja road and around Saint Teresa’s) are interlinked with a couple of neighboring
estates; Mlango Kubwa and sections of Mathare and Pangani estates. The flow is
basically from Mlango Kubwa and Mathare towards Eastleigh and Pangani.

The chapati business in the larger St. Teresa’s area can be loosely divided into:

1. Hotels (Small and Medium sized) – These mainly make chapati for
consumption in the hotel by customers who walk in. Some also make chapati
for sale at wholesale prices to food retailers who wish to resell.
2. Mobile Chapati Hawkers – The mobile hawkers largely buy the chapati from
the hotels and resell them to shopkeepers, touts, market women and the like.
In addition to chapati they sell tea which is their main product. Some
accompany the chapati with soups, beans, ndengu etc. A section of these

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produce the chapati themselves but the preferred working method is to get
into a working relationship with a hotel whereby they buy the chapati as
need be. For example if a hawker gets an order for 5 chapatis she just buys
from a particular hotel at a wholesale price. The quantity does not matter.
3. Roadside Chapati Retailers – This group largely produces and sells the
chapati themselves. They position themselves along the estate streets. A new
strategy used by these is to liaise with shopkeepers to sell the chapati on
commission basis. If for instance a shopkeeper takes 10 chapatis and only
sells 6, the 4 remaining are returned to the retailer.
4. Group Sellers – Five to ten women come together and start preparing chapati
in relatively large numbers for sale. Some sell to individuals at wholesale
prices while others focus on supplying to groups e.g. teachers in a school or
those having any sort of occasion
5. Unclassified – These can’t be fully classified and include ‘chapati cooks for
hire’, housewives who cook and sell to neighbors and the like. These mainly
use a customers’ materials to cook and only charge for labor costs etc

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Some Consumption Figures

- In hotels the average consumption is 2 chapatis per individual

- For chapati hawkers the average consumption is 1 chapati per sale but these
also reported the highest number of repeat purchases within a day
- For stationary roadside chapati retailers the average consumption is 3
chapatis per customer
- Cooks for hire averaged chapati worth 2 kg wheat flour per order.

Competition & Survival

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Number of Chapati vendors - 129 (These figures are from a radius of rougly 500
meters from St. Teresa’s. The figure includes the physical hotels, and only some of
the mobile chappati hawkers and roadside retailers. Due to the irregular nature of
their operations these could not be fully accounted for. The distribution is skewed
towards Mlango Kubwa and Mathare. For instance 50 meters in one direction from
St. Teresa’s there were only 4 chapati vendors, a relatively lower density as
compared to the other areas.

Numbers of chapati vendors that have opened in the last one year - 53. Again
this may not include all the vendors.

Number of chapati vendors that have closed in the last one year – 27. The
figure could be higher since the data was acquired from a peer review method (Do
you know of a vendor who has closed shop? / Who were you purchasing chapati
from before your current vendor and other related questions).

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 Reasons or Closing

More profitable alternatives –

28 %
Losses – 17%

Low returns – 11%

Displacement – 5%

Other – 39 %

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(Data from 18 of the former chapati vendors who could be traced)

Those classified as “other” didn’t have particular reasons why they closed. Some it
seemed were reluctant to admit they suffered losses or low returns

What To Make Of The Figures

Figures above show that the chapati market in the Eastleigh area has recorded
tremendous in the last 2 years. 68 % of roadside retailers and chapati cooks for hire
reporting they started their business in the last two years. All the Chapati cooking
groups started their business in the last two years. The casualty also seems high
and this can be attributed to competition.

Sales figures (see below) show that revenue among 56 % of hotels and
roadside hawkers has not increased tremendously in the last one year. Cooks for

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hire reported a slight increase in their revenue. This could imply the market is
stabilizing rather than declining. The demand for chapati is present, growing
slightly and almost well served. None of the sellers reported any geometric or
drastic shift in growth.

The barriers to entry in the business are minimal, with as little as Ksh.200 one
can set up a basic operation. Though a health or trade license may be required
many vendors, especially mobile and roadside vendors, survive comfortably
without them.

The cost of exist is also low since there are no equipments to sell or large stock
to dispose. That means Competition is high and will remain so. Everyday there
will be people entering and leaving the trade.

Relatively Low returns and losses are the major causes of exit. For new

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vendors it took time to win enough customers to break even, sometimes up to 6
weeks, vendors without enough capital to survive until such a point closed shop.
However this depended on the location of the business. Vendors in ‘prime
‘locations could turn a profit from day one.

Because of the small scale of the operations, and the close association with the
owners many of the vendors consumed the daily returns the same day, and without
enough money to plough back the next day the businesses collapsed only to revive
when more capital was found from other sources.

Despite this kind of competition opportunities still exist. However ability to

take seizes these opportunities and capacity to survive in such a spirited
environment depends on a couple of factors that will be clear below.

There is minimal differentiation in the mass market chapati business. Basically

for customers in this market a chapati is still a chapati though there may be
variations in size, taste, tenderness and such other attributes which are relevant in
defining a chapati.

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 The market being thus Competition and Survival in the chapati business in the
Eastleigh area happens at two major levels, which are crucial for the success:

1. Location
2. Branding/ Differentiation

Because of such minimal differentiation in the market a good location for the
business was initially the single most important factor that could determine the
success of a venture; Purchase of chapati was (and is still to a large extent) first
about convenience than taste. (A housewife purchasing from the roadside seller
nearest to her house). Location is still important but now that nearly all good
positions are serviced some sort of branding is playing a role almost as equal as
location in the growth and survival of chapati retails.

Branding here means differentiation (laying emphasis on the chapati qualities

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that previously didn’t seem to matter, hyping qualities that existed but which were
taken for granted, creative chapati recipes), a well defined target market and
customer service .

Distribution is used to overcome the shortcomings of being in an unsuitable

location or to increase the value of an existing location, since stiff competition
erases part of the worth no matter how great a spot is. Distribution has contributed
most to overall income growth of some vendors.

In the Eastleigh area distribution started to be used intensively to boost sales

about two years ago in reaction to increased competition at almost all sites. Though
there had been individual vendors hawking chapati and tea on almost a ‘ door to
door’ basis , it wasn’t until some small hotels in Mlango Kubwa started going out
to look for customers rather than waiting for them to come did the market consider
it a worthwhile avenue for growth. The hotels would give tea and chapati to young
women who’d go out and sell wherever they wanted, and in turn get paid on
commission. The young women acting more like salespeople didn’t invest any
money.

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 Some hotel owners then started selling the chapati at a wholesale price; some
of the chapati hawkers started purchasing the chapati and selling them as their
own. Presently there are many variations to this.

Roadside sellers on their part collaborated with vegetable grocers, giving them
chapati to sell on a little commission. This still happens.

Women and a few men who believed they were exceptionally good and fast in
the way they made chapati also started aggressively marketing themselves and
offering ‘ chapati cooking services’. Some started with the neighbors while others
would move from door to door pitching. The pitch mainly involved quality, and
when need be speed. There are now tens of these.

Distribution has made chapati easily available, snatched any remaining novelty

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from chapatis and also triggered an increase in the demand for chapati. Now that
they are available easily and at every corner they can be used as an alternative
quick snack or for full meals even during weekdays.

As competition increased so did efforts to differentiate the chapatis.

Depending on the location and the tastes of the customers emphasis was laid on
size, quality in terms of tenderness and hygiene.

For the road side vendors and chapati cooks for hire the emphasis was more on
the brand. The type of chapati they cook. The key measures being the tenderness
and ‘sweetness’, how delicious the chapatis were.

For the small hotels more emphasis was laid on distribution and location than
on ‘brand’. Distribution had the biggest impact on revenues than any effort to
market the quality / uniqueness of chapati.

For the individual vendors branding had the most impact on revenue.

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 Still as the supply of chapati increased and their consumption became common
so did the consumer tastes start becoming more sharp and varied. They now had
choice, and started exercising the power they had, some becoming particular in the
chapati they wanted.

Now not all customers buy from the first vendor they encountered, some,
especially those purchasing from roadside vendors in Eastleigh and Pangani,
sought quality and hygiene. These want to trust the chapatis are hygienically
prepared irrespective of the source.

Quality is easy to decipher just by taste and the definition varies from
customer to customer. Hygiene depends on customers impressions of the vendor.
How clean the vendor is, how the packaging is done and how she maintained(s) her
immediate environment.

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Some consumers only purchase ‘hot’ chapati from only those who cook in the
open or use hot pots to store the chapati. The use of the latter was and still is also
aimed at presenting a professional image as compared to the use of plastic basins
and polythene papers.

Customer service also became important especially for the road side and
mobile vendors. Customer service varies from the purchase tete a tete, packaging
and in some cases a credit facility.

Present Situation

While there is continuous though not disruptive innovation, mostly to do with

the way of creative recipes of preparing chapati (See below) there has been no
radical change in distribution since the concept started being used. The formula
remains more or less the same : small hotels getting salespeople to take the
chapatis out there, Individuals preparing and hawking chapati on their own,

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Roadside sellers trying to liaise with kiosks, or have several of their family
members strategically located in the estates to sell the chapati.

Cooks for hire have become more preferred by many families. Visiting those
they serve at least once a week. Group cooks have become more common mostly
relying on word of mouth and pitches to institutions. Distribution is about
aggressiveness, numbers, and having a presence in all possible.

There has been slight growth in branding and differentiation in the last one
year. For the roadside vendors, cooks for hire and a few hotels branding had the
most impact on revenue. Still there has not been any radical change in branding
with most of it being emphasis on the tenderness of the chapati.

Branding in terms of creative chapati recipes has been limited though for those
who tried to be a little innovative, it had the most impact on revenue. This is

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especially so for the cooks for hire and roadside vendors. The recipes though have
been safe mainly for the roadside vendors. Safe in terms of being kept at the
simplest so as to not to increase costs.

Basically a quality tender chapati depends on the very basics; type of flour
used, how the dough was mixed, regulation of heat, oiling and such. These are
variables which anyone after preparing chapati for some time can quickly observe
and adapt. Nothing ‘secret’ about them and any keen cook will implement do it.
Still some extra keenness or a trick or two here will make one kind of ‘soft’
perhaps better than the other one.

After tasting one brand of softness, consumers though were unlikely to defect
unless enticed by something so special or unique.

However a few vendors have tried to use some ‘unique’ recipes. The most
common include egg chapati, pumpkin chapati, milk chapati, sweet potato chapati,
lemon chapati and now catching up the use of artificial flavors such as vanilla

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 These were the specialty of a few roadside vendors, cooks for hire and
neighborhood vendors. The kind of experimental recipes generated more direct
sales and referrals. For the vendors the challenge is how to balance the innovation
and cost so as to not have an extreme disadvantage competing on price.

One house to house vendor with a loyal clientele charges separate prices for
the various chapati. ‘Special’ going for a premium, and the ‘normal’ chapati at the
standard price.

Wholesalers have made little effort to brand since the burden of sales was on
their salespeople or retailers. Mobile vendors who have a loyal following which
guaranteed them a certain amount of income put more effort in maintaining the
clients than winning more.

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Growth in terms of branding depends more on word of mouth than formal
advertising. Thus there no one putting up a poster saying egg chapati... the
message is only communicated to the existing or walk in customers. Some just sell
knowing if the customers found them delicious they would come for more. For the
few plain A4 size posters the most common message was ‘chapati moto’ chapati
available and the occasional quality chapati.

Overall the highest number of chapati are sold during the day .These are
consumed as snacks and lunch time meals. From 6 am chapati were consumed
through out the day. Roadside vendors in estates though sold most of their chapati
during the evening from 4 am. Mobile vendors sell much more during the day.

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A First Note About Opportunity for 2000 Chapati

Opportunity to capture the market around Eastleigh exists but for it to happen
fast it would need a mix of reach and brand/ differentiation. Distributing ‘unique’
chapati to every relevant corner. The uniqueness will make the customers defect
while the distribution will maximize the reach. The unique need not be drastic it
could be doing what is done already but in a better way and more important hyping
it in a more visible manner.

On the other hand the uniqueness could be in form of a ‘special ‘chapati made
from any of the experimental recipes say eggs, pumpkin, milk etc The challenge
with this is consistency and cost. Flavored chapatis which are prepared using cheap
commercial flavors (like Vanilla) are a viable option. The area around St. Teresa’s

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and Diamond wholesalers may not be big enough to absorb the chapati. There are
more opportunities deep in the Eastleigh side. Though the target of the 2000
chapati is wholesale, at the end of the day the retail side drives the stock.

For instance there are matatu drivers and touts who gather together next to
Marie Stopes from early morning as they wait for their squad. At any particular
time they are about 20 of them as they keep leaving and coming back. They
usually take their snacks and sometimes meals from a woman selling on the
roadside nearby or from a hotel opposite St. Teresa’s which a favorite with many
of them is. Because they stand in groups and there are many such gatherings these
could be easy to target either by service or quality of the chapati.

There is very little room to maneuver and compete on price. A retail price of
below Ksh.10 may not be sustainable in the long run or effective enough to build
lasting loyalties. Large scale production of chapati if done efficiently would lead to
a reduction in the cost of production of a single unit of chapati to a level lower or
unattainable by the small hotels, and individual vendors of any kind. This means
that it would economically logical for the smaller traders to purchase from such a
large scale trader.

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 Some small hotels whose selling pointing is freshly cooked hot chapati cooked
‘live’ may be reluctant to purchase from such. Individual vendors maybe more
than willing to source their chapati from such large scale producers. But if a vendor
competes on basis of a unique attribute of her chapati she may be reluctant to lose
control of the preparation process by purchasing from someone else.

In the short run reach without differentiation would lead to sales enough to
move 2000 pieces of chapati. (Keep in mind for the mobile hawker the average
consumption per customer at a go is one chapati though there are repeat sales
during the day.)

But this would mean being at every corner since purchase would be
influenced by convenience rather than loyalty. This may not be sustainable in the
long run since if a vendor comes with a differentiated chapati at a convenient

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location then the customers will just shift.

The most sustainable strategy would be to have a wide reach and a

differentiated product.

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 Revenue

Average Daily Revenue ( Chapati Ksh. 310

only)
Highest Revenue Amount Ksh.2610
Recorded
Lowest Amount Recorded Ksh.110
Average Price of A Chapati Ksh.10
Other Price points Ksh. 15, Ksh.20, Ksh.15 and Ksh.20
Average number of chapati made 31
from 2kg packet of flour

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Lowest number made ( 2kg) 17
Highest number made (2kg) 43

Cooking Oil used (lowest) 150 ml for 30 chapatis

Cooking Oil used ( highest) 500ml for 30 chapatis

Most commonly used fuel Charcoal at an average rate of 1 kg

for 50 chapati

Revenue is influenced by the number of chapatis that are made from one unga,
and the price. The price depends on the location and the clients. Small mass hotels
largely fix their price at Ksh.10. And they focus more on quantity. A price above
Ksh.10 had a negative impact on the chapatis they sold.

The price has largely averaged Ksh.10 for over 5 years. Small hotels try to
balance between quantity and size / thickness of chapati knowing their customers
are conscious about price and size. Hence such hotels don’t always aim for the
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maximum reasonable chapati that can come from one packet of flour but for a
number that they can break even on and have satisfied customers.

For hotels which sell in wholesale or have salespeople selling on commission

the price ranges from Ksh. 6.50 to Ksh.8.50. The most common price was Ksh. 7.

Medium & well maintained hotels prices ranged between Ksh.15 and Ksh.20
per chapati.

Depending on the location the lowest price does not always mean increased
sales. In neighborhoods where the income was relatively higher and the people
were more particular about tastes the lowest price sometimes had the impression of
low quality.

Where one brand has an exceptional and pronounced quality and a premium

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was placed on it then sometimes sales were high.

Roadside vendors have the most differences in prices which ranged from
Ksh.10 to Ksh.20. These vendors too have the highest margins since they are able
to squeeze more chapati from a packet of unga than hotels. Chapati for home
consumption was supposed to be quality and many took quality to partially mean
thin but not paper thin. In highly competitive places the most common price was
Ksh.10. Still others made above average size chapatis and sold at Ksh. 15 and
Ksh.20.

Vendors located within a residential area say a woman living in a flat cooking
the chapati and selling from her house tend to sell at a higher price. Vendors who
operated past 10pm are also inclined to charge more.

The level of trust and loyalty customers had on a vendor had the most impact
on revenue in terms of creating a foreseeable revenue stream.

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 Roadside vendors who have managed to get a faithful customer base tend to
charge slightly higher. This is only if the loyalty was initially due to quality and
trusting the source rather than price.

Loyalty based on price means that a customer can defect as soon as the price
changes. Loyalty has the added advantage of creating a customer pool big enough
to ensure a reliable and consistent income. A diverse and large client base is
needed especially among roadside vendors who sell their chapati in the evening for
consumption as part of the main meal since dietary habits among many such clients
is to alternate between different meals. Chapati today, rice tomorrow, Chapati
during supper, ugali for lunch and so forth. Vendors who are able to push their
chapati largely as snacks rather than main meals recorded higher and more
consistent sales through the day and week.

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Revenue is high in good locations. For stationary vendors location matters.
Location is especially important for those new in the business. Location gives the
initial exposure which could when taken advantage of could be used to build or
push ones brand. Location also mattered a lot because there was little actual
differentiation between the chapati. If it was more convenient for a customer to
buy from vendor A who sells the same chapati as vendor B, then there was no
reason for him to go to vendor B. But if vendor B has really exceptional chapati
then the customer will consider whether it’s worth the extra inconvenience in terms
of distances for what B is offering. If it worth then he will cover the extra miles.

Customers generally have a relatively dim view of the chapati sold by roadside
vendors and small hotels having the impression they are more or less uniform
produced cheaply and without much keenness since they are for the mass market.
This again implies the importance of a good location. It’s for the same reason
(customer’s attitudes) that revenue is higher among vendors with some sort of
distribution however crude.

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 At the basic distribution involves having as many people in as many places as
possible, nothing really innovative. Since the differentiation is minimal the vendor
with the most people in most places obviously had the most sales. So at the end
the vendors or hotels with the most ' elaborate ' and most people selling at various
points had more sales. Many vendors don’t have a distribution strategy and worked
haphazardly. Other than having salespeople who are not allocated any specific
areas and using shop keepers the other common distribution and marketing method
was to have chapati packaged as part of another meal say ndengu, beans sukuma
and hawked as such in plastic containers.

Revenue is also a function of the number of chapati that could be ‘optimally’

squeezed from a packet. In the Mathare area, Mlango Kubwa and sections of
Eastleigh it was more about quantity rather than quality. Filling the stomach rather
than getting the best quality was the principal consideration. The lower the income

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so does size and thickness matter. Chapati cooks who are able to get an optimal
number from a packet of unga and consistently so then recorded more revenue. 27
is more or less like the break even point. Consistency is sometimes missing
especially where large amounts of chapati are involved.

Cooks who are also able to mould and cook the chapati in a way that they gave
the impression of big while still making more from a quantity of flour also
increased income. A trick used was to make seemingly wide and thin chapati.

Generally in the market there is low productivity of both labor and capital.
Most of the businesses being small have most of their activities at the atomic level.
Many for instance purchase the flour one packet at a time, sometimes even a
kilogram at a time or even a quarter kilogram for oil. This in the long run increased
costs by about 30 % as compared to bulk purchase. Still there were no clear
manpower relationships. Sometimes vendors when overwhelmed hired manpower
on a daily basis paying arbitrarily agreed figures which sometimes could be as high
as Ksh.700. Fuel too was purchased in small quantities. Purchasing charcoal in
sacks could reduce fuel costs by as much as 40 %.This lack of economics and long
term look increased costs, and reduced eventual returns. Revenue was high in
among those who were more efficient.

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 To get maximum returns while pricing chapati at sh. 10 then costs have to be
kept at the lowest. To make 2000 chapati within a short span say 2 to 3 hours
would require at least 5 people.

There are bulk chapati making machines. Some are sold over the internet but
are not standardized for the local chapati size. One can have a jua Kali artisan
custom make one. There are also electrical pancakes, chapati cooking gadgets
which may make the whole process easier especially in terms of quality but
required larger investments. One of these averaged Ksh.6, 500, and had a
standardized size. None of the vendors in the Eastleigh section used any of these,
most were manual. (See manpower for more notes on labor)

Wastages contribute to a reduction in the revenue. This often occurs when a

vendor overestimates the demand and prepares more chapati than she can sell. This

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is quite common among new vendors. Though chapati can last overnight there was
an edge in having it fresh and hot; the latter is especially demanded and desired by
customers. Stale chapati is quickly noted by customers. Vendors or hotels which
have excess chapati at the end of the day undergo a hard time recycling them (by
warming and mixing with the fresh ones) if not so they have throw them away.
This of course negatively affects the revenue. It is common to have wastages.
Some hotels and vendors monitor their orders and cook more by the hour or as the
stock is depleted.

By their nature chapati can’t be consumed on their own. They need some
‘accompaniment’. This is either provided by the customers themselves in their
homes or by the vendors. For those who consume chapati as snacks, mostly
consumers at their workplaces they need some quick mboga or tea etc to
accompany the chapati.

Vendors who are able to offer these simultaneously end up selling more than
those who sold the chapati then left the customer to search for the mboga. The
difference in revenue between Mobile vendors who sold chapati only and those
who sold chapati and some mboga was 76 %. It is tough for the mobile vendors to
gain market share selling chapati only. However this could change if the chapati

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has a major differentiation say made from eggs etc, and it is worth waiting or
searching for an appropriate mboga.

Some vendor has breakfast packages where she puts two chapati and a yellow
ripe banana in an attractive neat plastic bag and has one or two people selling them
at Ksh.30 each between 6 am and 9 pm near Pangani.

Branding has also a positive impact on revenue. Whatever sort of branding it

creates some loyalty which translates into more regular purchases and hence more
revenue. The most common form of ‘branding’ has to do with hyping quality in
terms of softness, freshness and warm. Though consumers said there was some real
difference in the quality of chapati they admitted in the long run the difference was
minimal and customer service and relationship become the major factors
influencing their purchase decisions.

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Innovation plays the biggest role in capturing the market; it is the most
influential factor that triggered customer defection from one vendor to another.
Innovation generates the most references through word of mouth. Word of mouth
means customers go to a vendor already trusting her, and the threshold for
satisfying and maintaining them is much lower.

Generally female vendors record higher sales than their male counterparts.
This is mostly a result of the impression that women are better chapati and general
cooks than men. Food is seen as the domain of women.

Customer loyalty is higher among vendors who offer some sort of credit. The
credit is mainly offered by the mobile vendors who do the rounds during the day,
supplying to one client several times during the day then come later in the evening
or afternoon to collect the money. Most of the customers in this case are business
people.

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 Consumer Behavior

There are mainly two kinds of customers in the Eastleigh area.

a) Those of above average income

b) Those of average and below average income. In terms of consumption
this group also includes those of above average income but without

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advanced or acquired in tastes.

For the mass market and to move large numbers of chapati the second group
should be the focus because their tastes are direct and easy to discern. They are
also less choosy and tend to have a very easy to understand consumption habit.

For the latter group the first consideration is affordability, then fullness. They
are not very particular about hygiene, since to some the levels of hygiene in the
hotels or among the vendors were the same as in their own houses or those of
neighbors. The risk of eating infected foods vis a vis the savings and a full stomach
seem worth it.

They are more attracted to some easy informal-ness in business. They want the
kind of relationship where they felt there are no barriers and could walk in or out
as they wished.

One way of winning this group is the kind of service that makes them feel
really appreciated. That makes them feel literally feel like kings. Another was to
offer them a product that ma them feel like they were getting more than value for
their money. Thus if a vendor offers quality clean chapati with the same sort of in

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formalness then they would switch to them. Product differentiation at the same
price and service levels would and is successful.

In this group men were the largest consumers, and largely consumed the
chapati outside their houses. The reason being to escape family meals which were
either monotonous, not satisfying enough or not to their acquired urbane tastes.
This means they looked for the convenience of doing so whether near or far away
home.

For those who eat chapati in the evening it was not seen as a full meal rather as
a sub meal before the main one. Yet even for the quick snack they expected the
meal of chapati to be satisfying.

Most of the consumers in this group do not seek differentiation neither are they
often offered it by the vendors. Still when it happened they react positively.

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Customers in this group are more likely to warm up to vendors who had the
potential of offering them some kind of credit. The credit facility doesn’t necessary
have to be activated immediately but could when need be.

Loyalty is not extremely strong, convenience and value for money came before
loyalty.

For those of above average income quality is a key consideration, a chapati is

not about filling the stomach but also the experience while doing it. Thus quality is
key, and so is some level of hygiene. Quality is defined in various ways.

Tenderness is key, and so is evenly cooked and not burnt chapati. Quality is
measured against chapati they cook in their own homes or with families or
relatively better hotels they have visited. They are ready to pay a premium for
higher quality or a differentiated product. Still they want to have value for their
money

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 Many seek a different kind of taste, something superior thus they were more
welcoming to differentiated products like milk / flavored or any of the
differentiated chapati. They are also more health conscious demanding directly and
indirectly a certain level of hygiene standards. Health is also the reason they were
more responsive to enriched chapati... say pumpkin chapati.

Many purchase chapatis as part of a full meal this is mainly to avoid what they
consider to be the hustle of cooking chapati and also to save time. Some also
consider their chapati preparation skills inferior to those of the vendors. Most
lived on their own or had small families of 3 or 4. For those with larger families
they prefer to hire someone to cook the chapati. A percentage of them also
consume chapati as snacks, say taking with them to their places of work.

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Manpower
Hotels have an average of one person assisting in the cooking. 78 % of them
are men. There is no particular qualification of the employees, other than the
ability to cook chapati within the standards of the owner. Reward system is
sometimes salary based especially where the cook is involved in other cooking
activities for the hotel.

Some hotels hire chapati ‘specialists’, whose main skill was squeezing the
right amount of chapati from a packet of unga. Reward in this case varied, from an
agreed rate which averaged Ksh.200 but which could rise to Ksh. 500. At other
times the reward is based on the number of packets of flour to be made into
chapati. The rate averages between Ksh. 50 and Ksh. 100 per 2 kg packet.

Roadside vendors mostly relied on their own labor. If they don’t cook the
chapati themselves they are helped by family members. They don’t allocate

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themselves a salary and the business returns is what they used to reward
themselves. A few though hire labor and negotiate a daily rate.

For those who hire salespeople the reward is commission based. The
commission ranged from 20 – 30 % (Ksh.2 to Ksh. 3 for every Ksh.10). The
commission is paid at the end of the day.

A 2nd Note On Viability Of 2000 Chapatis in Eastleigh.

(Reviewing what has been said above)

Eastleigh and the surrounding areas have a population over half a million. At

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the face of it and ideally this is population and big enough and ideal consumer mix
to absorb 2000 or even 10,000 chapati. True there is enough demand to sell these
numbers. However to assume the market could be captured easily would ignoring
be the competition that exists.

What a large percentage of the competition offers though is not a unique

product but convenience; easy and quick accessibility. On the other hand the
consumer does not demand and expect much in terms of the product quality. His
mind is preset and expectations low.

As previously stated in this situation to capture the capture the market faster
and build lasting loyalties would be by offering convenience and a superior
product that satisfies and surprises the customer positively.

Even if you are offering them at wholesale you need to think of a smart retail
system. Chapati wholesalers in the Eastleigh area work haphazardly, more like
dumping the chapati to the retailers who are supposed to do all the sweating to
move the chapati. Thus there is little support in terms of market
guidance/segmentation/ zoning or more importantly creating a superior product
that generates more demand. Many wholesalers wash their hands the moment they

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sell to retailers. The other thing could be to produce the chapati very efficiently so
that it becomes attractive for present vendors to purchase in wholesale from you
rather than cook on their own. However consider this in light of some of the above
mentioned issues.

Keep in mind for customers’ purchase the 10,000 chapati you will have to
make them defect from existing vendors or created demanded among those who
were not purchasing chapati before.

Customer’s loyalty not being extremely high, the potential to move 10,000
chapati is there but it all depends on a smart marketing strategy which focuses on
reach and a superior product at existing price levels. That also means your
production costs have to be kept at the minimum.

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