Meet the Boss: Falase Oyeyemi, CEO Cuisine n Chops

  Connect Nigeria spoke to Falase Oyeyemi, CEO Cuisine n Chops, who told us about her passion starting out and what it takes to be an entrepreneur in Nigeria. CN: Tell us a bit about your professional background FO: I have a Bachelor’s Degree in computer science from the University of Ibadan, Ibadan Nigeria, obtained a Masters degree (MA) in Management from Middlesex University, London UK. I am an Oracle certified database associate, a PRINCE2 (project management) certification. My first work experience was in the banking industry with Zenith bank then with Skye Bank.   CN: How did cuisine n chops start out? How many years has it been? FO: My passion has always been in cooking, right from when I was in high school, even to my University days. I used to have friends come over to my father’s place; my father being the Vice Chancellor at the time, made it so easy for me to put my passion to practice so, cooking has always been in me. Based on my friends and various clients’ comments, I started out Cuisine n Chops officially in January 2012 in South Africa and then moved the operational base to Nigeria in September of the same year. We are 2 years old presently. CN: What inspired the name Cuisine n Chops? FO: I used to do unpaid jobs for friends and relatives while I was in South Africa when I used to visit friends and cater for their functions.  I used to have a lot of people requesting for my catering service which I did for free even without owning a catering outfit. When I eventually decided to start out, I had a minor challenge in getting a name. I kept writing down different names and crossing them out as I didn’t like them. Then, my sister called me from Nigeria and asked why I sounded so stressed, I told her about it and she just exclaimed “Yemi! Why not call it Cuisine & Chops”? Immediately, I fell in love with the name and decided that was what I would be going for: “Cuisine” refers to meals and “Chops “ refers to finger foods which we all know as small chops in Nigeria.

CN: Why did you decide to do this? FO: As stated earlier, I have always had interest in cooking while in the school. After many years of acquiring knowledge in the Information Tech world and some more working in the banking industry, emptiness still filled me. When I moved to South Africa, I had difficulties getting a job during the economic meltdown, which gave me time to try out different recipes of mine and invite friends over who kept asking for more. The “More” they asked for what was got me to ask myself to lay out what fulfills me. The only answer I got was feeding people and seeing them satisfied.  However, the thought of failure came in and saw me procrastinating for a while until when I got a convincing answer through a church member in South Africa who in her words said “Why are you still looking for a job? Turn that talent of yours to money. You probably don’t know how good you are” This became a major deciding factor, in addition to other comments from friends and relatives.  So I decided to pursue my passion of “feeding people”.

CN: What challenges did you face starting out? FO: The catering business is an “emotional” business: It is “emotional” in the sense that people have a specific caterer they want to use or the fact that they have known a caterer for years and they want to stick to them. Also, they may have someone in the family who is a caterer or a friend who is a caterer who may not be able to provide the quality service they ought to get for their events. Another challenge is people believe that it is the amount of years in the industry that determines how good you are. Everyone is skeptical in trying new hands.  Recipe introduction is another challenge I have found in the industry.  A lot of people are reluctant to trying new things. I once had an event we catered for and  I decided to introduce a dish with mashed potatoes but while serving the guests the usual meals, we offered them mashed potatoes but they rejected it until  one of the guests eventually tried it and realized how nice it was. Then, we had the others follow suit. I also found out that the catering business is capital intensive especially in terms of acquiring new equipment.  These equipment are subject to loss through breakage and theft.

CN: If you could start over, what would you do differently? FO: There is absolutely nothing I’ll do differently. CN: What has been the level of your customers’ response since you started? FO: We have had good customers’ response through the provision of our vast and “uncommon” range of desserts, finger foods, intercontinental and local dishes. We recently catered for the Nigerian Music Video Awards Recently “NMVA” and most recently for the opening of a factory in Osun state. Also, everyone is tired of going to events and having the same ol’, same ol’ jollof and fried rice. We, therefore had to introduce newer and better meals to guests at events.   CN: Which of your dishes have been most popular among your clients? FO: Well, we have different range of dishes and different clients but in order of interest, for our finger foods, the most popular are fish pouches and chicken wings with a sweet dipping sauce or tangy lemon and herb mayo. The popular main meals appear to be our various Chinese meals and our secret recipe fried rice. The moist dark pudding au chocolat à la vanille does very well when it comes to the desserts. CN: Do you have any special offerings clients can look forward to? FO: Definitely, due to people’s demand for training, we have decided to put together an intensive training course for young adults on ways to prepare various dishes, finger foods, desserts, cocktails and soups. We decided to focus on young adults because we noticed that many children nowadays have things done for them by house-helps, cooks and stewards.  This has seriously impaired their ability to even cook the basic meals. However, the course is open to anyone who is interested. The training will start this year but the specific month period is yet to be fixed. CN: What’s your long term vision for Cuisine n Chops? FO: I hope to have a restaurant that will provide 5-star quality service/meals. Also to acquire a Michelin star. CN: What advice do you have for upcoming entrepreneurs in Food and catering? FO: Finance should not be a barrier in starting out, even if you have to rent equipments to provide your services. She/he should also avoid the fear of failure. Once you are very good at what you do, do it well people will always patronize you.