Restaurant Review: More mouth watering options

This year has seen the entry of food chain giants into the industry. While this means more options for going out for Ugandans, it spells out more competition, hopefully the customer is out to benefit.

Restaurants across Uganda have been losing share of total retail sales during the last decade. Differentiation - and speed of reaction to trends - are required if they are to fight back.

The two newest joints to open up in the fast food arena in Kampala are Cayenne Express and Kentucky Fried Chicken. The latter represents a worldwide brand that was founded by Harland Sanders way back during the Great Depression and today ranks as the second most popular fast food joint in the world in terms of sales with a presence in over 120 countries.

However my main focus of observation in this article concentrates on Cayenne Express, that made it debut on the scene in October of this year. Cayenne Express that is the scion of the established brand of Cayenne Restaurant and Lounge over in Bukoto by joining up with Nakumatt has created a new paradigm in the fast food sector hitherto unseen.

While department store sales have been affected by the encroachment of larger specialist retailers and the non-food offer of larger supermarkets and hypermarkets, there remains a compelling reason for shoppers to continue to shop with them. This is that department stores provide a wide range of merchandise including branded goods, under one roof, combined with a high level of service delivery and advantage of location with attendant advantage of parking security to mention a few factors. Another great advantage lies in the environment that is generally perceived to be more aspirational, personal and entertaining than the competition which in turn provides a more satisfying experience of shoppers.

For a myriad of reasons that are far too numerous to mention here, the retail fast food sector continues to be robust as is witnessed by new entrants such as Javas and KFC yet there is always the underlining challenge of start up costs that can be huge and not for the faint hearted and this is where Cayenne Express has a decided advantage over the others.

The cost of setting up a standalone take away is considerably less than a fully blown operation such as Javas and KFC despite the fact that the ROI would be greater but in the short run, given the same amount of money to set up one unit, Cayenne Express will have established four or five establishments at a much faster pace and cheaper cost and be in business much sooner.

In essence, Cayenne Express is able to create a greater foot print across the area in tandem with the Nakumatt presence, and given this blue print, since October when they first opened shop, they have spread their wings to Nakumatt Bugolobi Village Mall, Nakumatt Muganzirwazza Katwe and Nakumatt Victoria Mall, Entebbe. Come early next year and they shall be in Nakumatt Oasis Mall and Nakumatt Acacia Mall.

Survival in this business lies in either the Java model that is very costly or affiliation with a major supermarket such as Nakumatt whereby assuring a maximum presence and footprint in the business.