The first decade of this century witnessed the birth of many of Nigeria’s ‘new generation brands’. From beauty and fashion to e-commerce and telecommunication, the early 2000s were a mini-renaissance for industries in a country emerging from trying economic conditions.
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A few companies emerged in the local food industry to duel with giant foreign brands. One of them, Chikki Foods, has become known for its noodles. The products have clawed back ever-bigger pieces of a market that was once the preserve of an Asian monopoly.
Chikki Foods was incorporated in 2005 as the first indigenous instant noodle brand. Soon, it began challenging the dominant companies in the space, attracting customers with its peculiar taste and lower prices. It is now one of over a dozen new companies that play in the Nigerian noodles market.
Like every other noodle product, Chikki has gained much of its consumer base in urban areas, where quick meals free up scarce time for workers and students alike. Besides the noodles, it also comes with a sachet of herbs and spices, ingredients that improve the quality of the dish when it’s cooked.
The Chikki brand has three noodle product varieties: the onion flavour, the pepper soup flavour, and chicken flavour. Each variety carries at least a slight taste of the flavours after which they are named. Both the onion and chicken noodles can be prepared in a few minutes, following the quick steps required to cook instant noodles. The pepper soup product can be prepared in a spicy broth, in the fashion of the local ‘pepper soup’.
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Chikki Foods also makes Chip Chip, an instant noodle snack. The product was launched in 2017 and has become a favourite among school children ever since.
These products are manufactured and packaged at Chikki’s factory in Lagos, and shipped to retail points across the country. The company has a growing network of distributors who buy large quantities of the product and make them available to smaller street-side shops.
Nigeria’s noodles market is now far more competitive than it was when Chikki Foods came on the scene more than a decade ago. But the company is aiming to strengthen its position in the industry by improving the products it offers to the public.
Featured Image Source: @chikkiinstantnoodles – Facebook
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