For many whom Pancake Hub is their familiar haunt, they will not hesitate to describe it as the place where you are served the best pancake in town. Since its started business in a corner of Jibowu Street, along the Ikorodu Road, Lagos, Pancake Hub, has been a revelation.
The Nigerian Xpress spoke with the owner of the breakfast restaurant, Adaobi Alex-Oni.
What was the inspiration behind opening a pancake place?
It was at a point that in our family, we were at a turning point. My husband resigned from his job and I was also struggling with what to do. When you have a financial break, there’s so much gap, you don’t know what next. Somehow my husband got this office in Jibowu and there was a space that nothing was happening there. He suggested that I come to start the pancake business, especially on Saturday mornings. We took the space because we knew we could do something with it. My husband, a certified wealth manager was busy building business small start-ups and he thought the pancake business could be a good one.
How did you then turn that into reality?
He started Pancake Hub with me and with barely anything. The first flour we used to fry pancake was the one we had at home, a half bag of flour we had at home. At the end of the first day, I took back the flour home, because it was a stop-gap between when the next big financial break would come and having to put food on the table. We had our children who were going to secondary school at the time and so, it was a lot of new things happening, challenging stuff too.
Being a start-up how did Pancake Hub become popular?
My husband had mastered social media. He had a lot of presence on Twitter and Instagram where he was always teaching people stuff like “What business can you start with N1,000?”, creating opportunities whereby a group of friends come together and empower other people and train them to have their small businesses, so he built the business more on social media.
We at first thought of Pancake Hub as mobile, like having pancake hub mobile kitchen at every strategic spot in Lagos, but that business model didn’t gel. We then started exploring other avenues, like going for outdoor events where we would pitch our Pancake Hub stand. In that we got lucky. The first major money we got from Pancake Hub was from a wedding.
I had proposed to the woman to have Pancake and Ice cream as part of her dessert for her daughter’s wedding. We were both members of a chamber movement. She diplomatically told me she was going to patronize me because I’m a member but she felt people wouldn’t eat pancake. She ordered for fifty people. So, I came home, I asked my children what do we do?
Tobi my son, asked me to add fruits, grapes. I know people eat waffle and ice cream so I said let’s try it and that was how that first outing went. The following week, the woman’s second daughter was getting married and the wedding planner called to inform me that they would be needing pancakes for 150 people. That got me excited and inspired me to think that we would go for every outdoor event.
Pancake Hub was rated as the most visited stand at the first GTBank Food and Drink Festival in Lagos. We have had a positive review from Eat.Drink.Lagos, which reviews restaurants in Lagos. We’ve had success stories. Every time there is a challenge––sometimes, we come and we don’t make sales––I’m like, is this how this business will run? But that’s how businesses are. Once you start a small business, you don’t just boom.
Who are your customers?
We relied on our friends and that include my friends, members of my alumni (Federal Government College, Okigwe). They’re my biggest customers. Every event they hold, they want me to cater for them. The business started growing and we started picking up. But the strength was the online presence. We had a lot of people who order online.
What have been the good and the bad times about the Pancake Hub?
Once we had bad publicity which turned out to be good for us. A couple was supposed to meet here. The girl had another guy who got breakfast for her. So she had two guys who got breakfast for her and then when they both found out that they bought breakfast for the same girl, they went on Twitter to feud.
Everyone was like, where is this Pancake Hub? That day, we sold and we couldn’t sell anymore so it was good publicity for us. We also had couples who had rendezvoused here when they were dating and then went on to have children and someday came back here to tell us that they met here and now have a child. I have seen hearts mended here at Pancake Hub. Lovers like to hang out here. That’s the highpoint of Pancake Hub, for me.
How has the business been generally?
We have had our ups and downs this past three years. Covid-19 came and hit so hard and business dropped. Right now, we don’t even do eat-in anymore, it is strictly take-out. The fear of COVID is still very much with us because people are dying. There are people that I know personally who are now dead. Some of my customers have the same fear as me.
How hard did Covid-19 hit you?
Very hard. The whole of March, April, May, we didn’t open. I had 10 staff, I had to lay them off. Now, there are just two of them coming in. I encouraged them that anytime we’re fully back, the Hub is open for them, because these are the people who helped me build the business. Now, I just have two staff coming in and that says a lot. From 13 to two, that means business is bad and it’s slow.
Any expansion plan?
We had people approach us for that but anything worth doing is worth doing well, we don’t want to be everywhere and at the end of the day, you’re nowhere anymore so we want to solidify what we have. Of course, we are open to a franchise, maybe in the future but for now, no.
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What are the peculiar challenges you have faced as the owner of Pancake Hub?
The major challenge is human management. Dealing with customers is something else. Sometimes I have to tell them that I’m also a customer to someone else and I don’t give them a hard time. Customers sometimes are so rude they think it is their rights to be rude to you. It’s just unfortunate and I tell them it’s bad behaviour.
Sometimes, I’ve had to use my phone to call them and say forget I’m selling pancakes to you, for you to call me and make enquiries about pancakes and hang up the phone while I’m explaining to you is bad behaviour. I don’t know where that’s from. At the end of the day, I try to understand that they think they’re kings; fine. I treat them as such, but I try to explain to them it is not always settled when you have to run up on somebody and think it’s okay because you feel it’s cool. I don’t subscribe to that.
The second biggest challenge we face is investment. We are putting back into the business and that includes personal funds just to keep the business running. There is the challenge of not even knowing if the business will stay open the next day. Some days, we won’t sell anything. When pancake hub was Pancake Hub, by now, people are in for breakfast, today, I’ve only had three orders for delivery. So we have this big challenge of getting a return on investment.
Where do you see Pancake Hub in the next five years?
I see a tall building, like a five-storey building, at a strategic place, like a bustling junction or crossroads, bearing the legend ‘Welcome to the Pancake Hub.’ I see my business expanding. That’s my dream. I see us also helping to train and empower the younger generation. I did not just open a business for myself alone. I always want to empower people, young people especially. For me, Pancake Hub is a platform to do that.
What advice do you have for young entrepreneurs?
For those who also own small businesses like mine, keep at it, keep pushing and have faith that one day, you would grow. Importantly, be honest in your business dealings. And to people who call themselves customers, learn to behave well.