Why Jevinik is Cooking for Middle Class Nigerians

If you live in Abuja, Lagos and few other cities in Nigeria, it is very possible that you might have visited Jevinik. Jevinik is unlike any other eatery, restaurant or fast food joint in Nigeria: it is a place you want to be. Walk into the restaurant, and you would not smell anything food. They have taken care of that which usually makes eating Nigerian food a challenge for most. But the brilliance of Jevinik goes deeper: Jevinik created a new category in the restaurant industry. Yes, it pioneered what I would call “mid-luxury restaurant”.

Typically, fast food joints serve food really fast. If you go to Mr. Bigg’s for food, you expect to get it within 10 minutes. The same happens in Tantalizers. These entities have the food prepared and once you pay, they dish out the portions. But note that you have to line up, to get the food. This is Case #1

Also, if you go to the more affluent restaurant, you would take a seat, and someone would come and pick the orders. Later, the food is brought. Typically, the time is upwards of 15 minutes. This is case #2.

But in Jevinik, it provides the speed of fast food even when allowing you to take a seat. And at the same time, you are not going to break a bank account to pay. Yes, the waiters come to take order, and when the bill is written, it is not over the roof. The quality of the food is optimal, and the pricing is fair. You eat the food, pay the money and you feel generally good about yourself. Largely, Jevinik business process has merged the two cases of #1 and #2, taking the best of both.

The capability to offer optimal quality food, at high speed service, under a packaged “premium experience” is why Jevinik is cooking for middle class Nigerians in some of our big cities. The fact that you take a seat, and still get the food within 5 minutes at fair price, is a key differentiator in that entity. No eatery place in Nigeria comes close. Jevinik has created a new category in the industry. And Nigerians are responding along with foreigners who also come to eat therein.  The hygiene is great, and no customer comes with a mat.

I wrote a small case on Jevinik last month as part of our advisory services, using it to educate our clients on how someone can find value by coming up with better processes within a largely saturated sector [people with money, looking for what to invest on]. You do not need to build a rocketship to find alpha in Nigeria. With most sectors at stasis, novel thinking is what you need in Nigeria.

People, Jevinik is cooking; we are eating. I hope it continues to perfect this enviable process of excellence in the broad restaurant sector of our nation.

Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA (Feb 10 - May 3, 2025), and join Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe and our global faculty; click here.