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Seeing all these new chicken joints open, can't help but think. What do they think they will achieve it they continue acting like they were formulated off a discarded concept originally meant for Chicken Inn?
Simbisa doesn't bat an eyelid over all these proliferating chicken spots. They are struggling to penetrate the market well enough to threaten their market share.
If Financials by the company are anything to go by. The only thing affecting Simbisa's numbers is the economy, not sprouting competitors. Simple things like shop sighting are important, you should know the kind of traffic worth sacrificing the brand for. Eg A branch at Mkt Square
A Cde mentioned Chicken Slice. The Slice story is important in making people understand that it is not only Chicken that can make a joint popular. The location & the crowd you appeal to. Mutyebere caught souls of breadwinners, he attacked the buyer & won. It was easier from ere..
Before our mothers emptied their Tshangani bags with their names written. Mighty marker, the works! They gave us Chicken Slice. It was at the time still being packaged in printed kaylite. It was fairly inferior to Chicken Inn, but they signalled intent with each meal.
The pioneering Chicken Slice was lethal. It immediately triggered questions, Chicken Inn was immediately under scrutiny. Was their chicken the best or the only choice?
Chicken Inn tried to fight off Slice in the early days but someone in their ranks was smart enough to concede that they are going to lose a significant figure off their market share.
They even started testing out methods first implemented by Slice, like the Mvuma sight. (I am hoping my research didn't betray me on who set-up the Mvuma branch first.)
Chicken Inn found it easier to accept Slice because they too as a brand needed an antithesis. They were a Macheso without a Dhewa, brilliant but casual. The emergence of Chicken Slice rejuvenated Chicken Inn.
The Chicken Slice story had one unintended consequence. It is not my place to decide whether it was good or bad. Many others felt they too could come in and wrestle the market share from Chicken Inn. Just because Burnley occasionally beats Chelsea it doesn't mean Fulham will.
Everyone felt they needed to venture out and try. Some have been lucky, for instance Eat and Lick, but a few bits are stopping the brand from reaching its full potential, the dining experience in an old Chicken Inn > in a newly renovated Eat n Lick.
The rest, ndizvozvowo zvekuti yatsika dope yanwa. Simbisa is now being held in contempt but no one has been brave enough to formulate a path entirely different from Chicken Inn, as far as preparing the food is concerned.
So, this is why some end up becoming internet comedians because the kitchen works remain uninspiring. The food is okay, but definitely not worth the trouble. The brands exist but do not command space in the country's psyche.
Innscor and by extension Simbisa are now a behemoth. They decide who stays in the industry and who doesn't. When the Machipisa branch was burnt, they opened a mobile van service. They knew the consequences of leaving a critical sight in the hands of rivals.
So these new companies should be inspired by Mutyebere's story but they should not copy his template. There can only be a few stories of that nature, within any economy.
If it were me. Mugoni wepwere ndiye usati wakambocheka rukuvhute, so I may lack nuance. I would bring downtown Jipe, the soggy fries, into a more decent space. A product like that with normal fast food Chicken may be a game changer.
As a product, Chips fried in that shed (and many others like that) are consumed by Zimbabweans more than what is sold at Chicken Inn, Nando's and Slice combined. This is bold but not true, I am assuming. Forgiving my fanaticism, I love seeing underdogs win.
I ended up sleeping on the job yesterday. But dry chips and egg dipped market is a fool's errand if national reach is a strategy. Perhaps trying out new recipes, new dishes, like what Eat & Lick did with the Shawarma. They found an alternative Unique Selling Point.
If I could get money to do a Chicken and Chips joint, I would buy the Juvannah recipe and try to mass produce those soggy chips. They connect with the tastes of the mass but they are still dispensed in what are spots of 'questionable hygiene'.
Another interesting company are Bello. They serve the biggest Chips portion because they grow the potatoes they sell. But they haven't quite gotten the Chicken formula right. Their portions could be the game changer if they deal with the quality of Chicken.
Maybe it is time to bring in chefs into the picture, so they can come up with recipe's. If that fails, maybe borrowing formulas from other parts of the world. How does Brazilian Chicken taste, how does Thai Chicken taste?
The long and short of this winding thread is that, Simbisa own the Chips and Chicken market. Slice are the only brand which has managed to eat into that dominance because they are strategic. It's more than just opening a joint and throwing fries into boiling oil.
