bebe2:
hello all, here is an update on the bakery.

i closed it down, split the building in 2 apartment of 2bedroom each, rented it out for 120k per annum.

i took the 240k, and shared part of it to some elderly pple in my family and used the balance to buy dryfish,
egusi, ogbono and some laces and jewelry which was all posted to.

far better than all those years i wasted on that bakery business.

nairamaniac:


I went through every bit of ur thread.
The end made me cry and laff at the same time.
So sad and funny ending at the same time.

I have a thing for businesses and its management in general.

And its like u really had/have a passion for the bakery business.
Well even though its a closed chapter, u owe it to yourself to know why it failed, so such mistakes are not repeated in other aspects of your life which may transcend bakery business.

There would have been several reasons why it failed.

But let me start by saying you definitely got it wrong on expecting 40% profit from each bag(plus ingredients).

It would never have been possible even as at then.
The only way you would have arrived at that projection is if you neglected a lot of expenses.

In business, there are 2 types of expenditures;
A) fixed expenditure
B) Recurrent expenditure

I take it that all your total cost to buy a bag and convert it to finished product is in the recurrent expenditure.

I believe you neglected some major details, especially in the actual expenditure for the conversion. That's the only way 40% would have been successful.
And probably the reason you made such omitions was that you were incapable of inculcating those obmited details into one bag of bread.
Either that or you went into the business with a mindet of 40% based on what you heard from people.

Now I am sure you didn't include recurrent expenditures such as;
1) Salaries/labour
2) electricity( phcn)
3) Diesel for Generator
4) Gas/ firewood / Charcoal for the Oven
5) Cost of supplies to retailers (If you supply to Them)
6) Nylon (painted nylon)
7) Servicing of equipments( those machines, mixers, Miller's and even supply vans have an average servicing cost per month)

If all the above are put put into consideration, I tell you, the most you would have made as profit even as at them is 20%.

Now taking ur figures into consideration.
You were making around 1200 from a bag which cost 11,800(plus baking). It means you were making a percentage of approximately 10%.

But according to me, I say the most you could have made was 20%.
20% translates to making approximately 2,360 per bag.
And that is a maximum.

Fine, 10% may have been on a low side, but. believe me 15% is more than reasonable.

At 15% you should have been making somewhere around 1,770.
That is most likely what you in were making.
Meaning if your sister wasn't performing or eating into your profits.

Her error at 20% profit was 2,360 - 1,200 = 1, 160

Her error at 15% profit was 1,770 - 1,200 = 570

Do your analysis properly and you would realise the 15% one was more likely than 20%.

At your expected 40% profit, it means they (your sister and co) where in accounting for;
40% of 11,800 minus 1,200
= 4,720 - 1,200
= 3, 520
HABBA!!!

It never happened.
I have been involved in feasibility analysis of several businesses, including bread bakery.

However there are several other factors why you may have experienced such low turnout or losses.
Your ingredients were too expensive. Which made your quality too high for the price you were selling.

You didn't get your formula right.
Maybe you were using eggs, milk, which were not necessary for simple bread.

Another reason would have been that your people were buying other ingredients besides flour at a higher price than what it should have been.
Either they inflated those prices or they were cheated by the sellers of the materials.

If I may ask, how many bags were they selling on the average per day.
Not how many they were producing.

At times, people are misled by quantity produced per day.

Let me explain;
Your company may have been producing 5bags per day for 25 days in a month.

But they were selling 2bags per day for 30days.
Meaning at anytime (T) their would have been excessive backlog of bread on your shelf.

Meaning your production costs was multiple times more more than your actual sales/profit.

Another problem was using heavy equipments to do small work.
That is mechanical-disadvantage.
You say automatic-mixing machine and bought it.
Why?
Those things are for people that mix like 8bags and above.
Currently the big size cost around 4.5Million.
But why buy that when you are not
selling like 8bags a day and producing like 12bags a day.

You should have gone for the manual mixer which currently cost around half a million. Even though it would entail more labour/salary which is nothing compared to the light bill/diesel your auto mixer would consume.
We haven't talked about the size of generator the automixer would use. Which is at least a 20kva generator (diesel)
Over 2million naira.
Back then you spent around 1million for the gen.

In conclusion, u didn't get your business model right.
And there is no business you can't manage from anywhere in the world. You coulf have.been in uk and manage that business without any qualms, If you tidied your own end properly.

One of the biggest lessons I learnt from management is;

YOU ONLY KNOW YOU ARE A GOOD MANAGER, WHEN YOUR BUSINESS IS BEING WELL MANAGED WITHOUT YOU BEING THERE.

Have you asked yourself how dangote manages his multiple businesses, spread accross the world without his being there at the same time?
There are some of these businesses he doesn't even go to for years.

Madam, we have done enough for one day.
Hope this helps a bit.

Pardon my typos, if any.
I had no time to crosscheck.

Wishing you all the best.

id4sho:

tiri gbosa to you sir, I read the thread all. Thanks for your depth insight. I intend starting a transport company and I would love to tap from your depth of knowledge concerning business management. thanks in anticipation

nairamaniac:


I went through every bit of ur thread.
The end made me cry and laff at the same time.
So sad and funny ending at the same time.

I have a thing for businesses and its management in general.

And its like u really had/have a passion for the bakery business.
Well even though its a closed chapter, u owe it to yourself to know why it failed, so such mistakes are not repeated in other aspects of your life which may transcend bakery business.

There would have been several reasons why it failed.

But let me start by saying you definitely got it wrong on expecting 40% profit from each bag(plus ingredients).

It would never have been possible even as at then.
The only way you would have arrived at that projection is if you neglected a lot of expenses.

In business, there are 2 types of expenditures;
A) fixed expenditure
B) Recurrent expenditure

I take it that all your total cost to buy a bag and convert it to finished product is in the recurrent expenditure.

I believe you neglected some major details, especially in the actual expenditure for the conversion. That's the only way 40% would have been successful.
And probably the reason you made such omitions was that you were incapable of inculcating those obmited details into one bag of bread.
Either that or you went into the business with a mindet of 40% based on what you heard from people.

Now I am sure you didn't include recurrent expenditures such as;
1) Salaries/labour
2) electricity( phcn)
3) Diesel for Generator
4) Gas/ firewood / Charcoal for the Oven
5) Cost of supplies to retailers (If you supply to Them)
6) Nylon (painted nylon)
7) Servicing of equipments( those machines, mixers, Miller's and even supply vans have an average servicing cost per month)

If all the above are put put into consideration, I tell you, the most you would have made as profit even as at them is 20%.

Now taking ur figures into consideration.
You were making around 1200 from a bag which cost 11,800(plus baking). It means you were making a percentage of approximately 10%.

But according to me, I say the most you could have made was 20%.
20% translates to making approximately 2,360 per bag.
And that is a maximum.

Fine, 10% may have been on a low side, but. believe me 15% is more than reasonable.

At 15% you should have been making somewhere around 1,770.
That is most likely what you in were making.
Meaning if your sister wasn't performing or eating into your profits.

Her error at 20% profit was 2,360 - 1,200 = 1, 160

Her error at 15% profit was 1,770 - 1,200 = 570

Do your analysis properly and you would realise the 15% one was more likely than 20%.

At your expected 40% profit, it means they (your sister and co) where in accounting for;
40% of 11,800 minus 1,200
= 4,720 - 1,200
= 3, 520
HABBA!!!

It never happened.
I have been involved in feasibility analysis of several businesses, including bread bakery.

However there are several other factors why you may have experienced such low turnout or losses.
Your ingredients were too expensive. Which made your quality too high for the price you were selling.

You didn't get your formula right.
Maybe you were using eggs, milk, which were not necessary for simple bread.

Another reason would have been that your people were buying other ingredients besides flour at a higher price than what it should have been.
Either they inflated those prices or they were cheated by the sellers of the materials.

If I may ask, how many bags were they selling on the average per day.
Not how many they were producing.

At times, people are misled by quantity produced per day.

Let me explain;
Your company may have been producing 5bags per day for 25 days in a month.

But they were selling 2bags per day for 30days.
Meaning at anytime (T) their would have been excessive backlog of bread on your shelf.

Meaning your production costs was multiple times more more than your actual sales/profit.

Another problem was using heavy equipments to do small work.
That is mechanical-disadvantage.
You say automatic-mixing machine and bought it.
Why?
Those things are for people that mix like 8bags and above.
Currently the big size cost around 4.5Million.
But why buy that when you are not
selling like 8bags a day and producing like 12bags a day.

You should have gone for the manual mixer which currently cost around half a million. Even though it would entail more labour/salary which is nothing compared to the light bill/diesel your auto mixer would consume.
We haven't talked about the size of generator the automixer would use. Which is at least a 20kva generator (diesel)
Over 2million naira.
Back then you spent around 1million for the gen.

In conclusion, u didn't get your business model right.
And there is no business you can't manage from anywhere in the world. You coulf have.been in uk and manage that business without any qualms, If you tidied your own end properly.

One of the biggest lessons I learnt from management is;

YOU ONLY KNOW YOU ARE A GOOD MANAGER, WHEN YOUR BUSINESS IS BEING WELL MANAGED WITHOUT YOU BEING THERE.

Have you asked yourself how dangote manages his multiple businesses, spread accross the world without his being there at the same time?
There are some of these businesses he doesn't even go to for years.

Madam, we have done enough for one day.
Hope this helps a bit.

Pardon my typos, if any.
I had no time to crosscheck.

Wishing you all the best.

nairamaniac:


I went through every bit of ur thread.
The end made me cry and laff at the same time.
So sad and funny ending at the same time.

I have a thing for businesses and its management in general.

And its like u really had/have a passion for the bakery business.
Well even though its a closed chapter, u owe it to yourself to know why it failed, so such mistakes are not repeated in other aspects of your life which may transcend bakery business.

There would have been several reasons why it failed.

But let me start by saying you definitely got it wrong on expecting 40% profit from each bag(plus ingredients).

It would never have been possible even as at then.
The only way you would have arrived at that projection is if you neglected a lot of expenses.

In business, there are 2 types of expenditures;
A) fixed expenditure
B) Recurrent expenditure

I take it that all your total cost to buy a bag and convert it to finished product is in the recurrent expenditure.

I believe you neglected some major details, especially in the actual expenditure for the conversion. That's the only way 40% would have been successful.
And probably the reason you made such omitions was that you were incapable of inculcating those obmited details into one bag of bread.
Either that or you went into the business with a mindet of 40% based on what you heard from people.

Now I am sure you didn't include recurrent expenditures such as;
1) Salaries/labour
2) electricity( phcn)
3) Diesel for Generator
4) Gas/ firewood / Charcoal for the Oven
5) Cost of supplies to retailers (If you supply to Them)
6) Nylon (painted nylon)
7) Servicing of equipments( those machines, mixers, Miller's and even supply vans have an average servicing cost per month)

If all the above are put put into consideration, I tell you, the most you would have made as profit even as at them is 20%.

Now taking ur figures into consideration.
You were making around 1200 from a bag which cost 11,800(plus baking). It means you were making a percentage of approximately 10%.

But according to me, I say the most you could have made was 20%.
20% translates to making approximately 2,360 per bag.
And that is a maximum.

Fine, 10% may have been on a low side, but. believe me 15% is more than reasonable.

At 15% you should have been making somewhere around 1,770.
That is most likely what you in were making.
Meaning if your sister wasn't performing or eating into your profits.

Her error at 20% profit was 2,360 - 1,200 = 1, 160

Her error at 15% profit was 1,770 - 1,200 = 570

Do your analysis properly and you would realise the 15% one was more likely than 20%.

At your expected 40% profit, it means they (your sister and co) where in accounting for;
40% of 11,800 minus 1,200
= 4,720 - 1,200
= 3, 520
HABBA!!!

It never happened.
I have been involved in feasibility analysis of several businesses, including bread bakery.

However there are several other factors why you may have experienced such low turnout or losses.
Your ingredients were too expensive. Which made your quality too high for the price you were selling.

You didn't get your formula right.
Maybe you were using eggs, milk, which were not necessary for simple bread.

Another reason would have been that your people were buying other ingredients besides flour at a higher price than what it should have been.
Either they inflated those prices or they were cheated by the sellers of the materials.

If I may ask, how many bags were they selling on the average per day.
Not how many they were producing.

At times, people are misled by quantity produced per day.

Let me explain;
Your company may have been producing 5bags per day for 25 days in a month.

But they were selling 2bags per day for 30days.
Meaning at anytime (T) their would have been excessive backlog of bread on your shelf.

Meaning your production costs was multiple times more more than your actual sales/profit.

Another problem was using heavy equipments to do small work.
That is mechanical-disadvantage.
You say automatic-mixing machine and bought it.
Why?
Those things are for people that mix like 8bags and above.
Currently the big size cost around 4.5Million.
But why buy that when you are not
selling like 8bags a day and producing like 12bags a day.

You should have gone for the manual mixer which currently cost around half a million. Even though it would entail more labour/salary which is nothing compared to the light bill/diesel your auto mixer would consume.
We haven't talked about the size of generator the automixer would use. Which is at least a 20kva generator (diesel)
Over 2million naira.
Back then you spent around 1million for the gen.

In conclusion, u didn't get your business model right.
And there is no business you can't manage from anywhere in the world. You coulf have.been in uk and manage that business without any qualms, If you tidied your own end properly.

One of the biggest lessons I learnt from management is;

YOU ONLY KNOW YOU ARE A GOOD MANAGER, WHEN YOUR BUSINESS IS BEING WELL MANAGED WITHOUT YOU BEING THERE.

Have you asked yourself how dangote manages his multiple businesses, spread accross the world without his being there at the same time?
There are some of these businesses he doesn't even go to for years.

Madam, we have done enough for one day.
Hope this helps a bit.

Pardon my typos, if any.
I had no time to crosscheck.

Wishing you all the best.

1stNumeroUno:


Sir, your analysis above is awesome.

Weldon boss.

DaddyGngeess:
I have d same experience once b4, if u want I can help u by sending somebody to asist and show them how to make real money from bakary business. g.geess@yahoo.com. Contact me if u care

djsmoothy:

This is the best answer ever wow thanks for showing me the light God bless

nairamaniac:


I went through every bit of ur thread.
The end made me cry and laff at the same time.
So sad and funny ending at the same time.

I have a thing for businesses and its management in general.

And its like u really had/have a passion for the bakery business.
Well even though its a closed chapter, u owe it to yourself to know why it failed, so such mistakes are not repeated in other aspects of your life which may transcend bakery business.

There would have been several reasons why it failed.

But let me start by saying you definitely got it wrong on expecting 40% profit from each bag(plus ingredients).

It would never have been possible even as at then.
The only way you would have arrived at that projection is if you neglected a lot of expenses.

In business, there are 2 types of expenditures;
A) fixed expenditure
B) Recurrent expenditure

I take it that all your total cost to buy a bag and convert it to finished product is in the recurrent expenditure.

I believe you neglected some major details, especially in the actual expenditure for the conversion. That's the only way 40% would have been successful.
And probably the reason you made such omitions was that you were incapable of inculcating those obmited details into one bag of bread.
Either that or you went into the business with a mindet of 40% based on what you heard from people.

Now I am sure you didn't include recurrent expenditures such as;
1) Salaries/labour
2) electricity( phcn)
3) Diesel for Generator
4) Gas/ firewood / Charcoal for the Oven
5) Cost of supplies to retailers (If you supply to Them)
6) Nylon (painted nylon)
7) Servicing of equipments( those machines, mixers, Miller's and even supply vans have an average servicing cost per month)

If all the above are put put into consideration, I tell you, the most you would have made as profit even as at them is 20%.

Now taking ur figures into consideration.
You were making around 1200 from a bag which cost 11,800(plus baking). It means you were making a percentage of approximately 10%.

But according to me, I say the most you could have made was 20%.
20% translates to making approximately 2,360 per bag.
And that is a maximum.

Fine, 10% may have been on a low side, but. believe me 15% is more than reasonable.

At 15% you should have been making somewhere around 1,770.
That is most likely what you in were making.
Meaning if your sister wasn't performing or eating into your profits.

Her error at 20% profit was 2,360 - 1,200 = 1, 160

Her error at 15% profit was 1,770 - 1,200 = 570

Do your analysis properly and you would realise the 15% one was more likely than 20%.

At your expected 40% profit, it means they (your sister and co) where in accounting for;
40% of 11,800 minus 1,200
= 4,720 - 1,200
= 3, 520
HABBA!!!

It never happened.
I have been involved in feasibility analysis of several businesses, including bread bakery.

However there are several other factors why you may have experienced such low turnout or losses.
Your ingredients were too expensive. Which made your quality too high for the price you were selling.

You didn't get your formula right.
Maybe you were using eggs, milk, which were not necessary for simple bread.

Another reason would have been that your people were buying other ingredients besides flour at a higher price than what it should have been.
Either they inflated those prices or they were cheated by the sellers of the materials.

If I may ask, how many bags were they selling on the average per day.
Not how many they were producing.

At times, people are misled by quantity produced per day.

Let me explain;
Your company may have been producing 5bags per day for 25 days in a month.

But they were selling 2bags per day for 30days.
Meaning at anytime (T) their would have been excessive backlog of bread on your shelf.

Meaning your production costs was multiple times more more than your actual sales/profit.

Another problem was using heavy equipments to do small work.
That is mechanical-disadvantage.
You say automatic-mixing machine and bought it.
Why?
Those things are for people that mix like 8bags and above.
Currently the big size cost around 4.5Million.
But why buy that when you are not
selling like 8bags a day and producing like 12bags a day.

You should have gone for the manual mixer which currently cost around half a million. Even though it would entail more labour/salary which is nothing compared to the light bill/diesel your auto mixer would consume.
We haven't talked about the size of generator the automixer would use. Which is at least a 20kva generator (diesel)
Over 2million naira.
Back then you spent around 1million for the gen.

In conclusion, u didn't get your business model right.
And there is no business you can't manage from anywhere in the world. You coulf have.been in uk and manage that business without any qualms, If you tidied your own end properly.

One of the biggest lessons I learnt from management is;

YOU ONLY KNOW YOU ARE A GOOD MANAGER, WHEN YOUR BUSINESS IS BEING WELL MANAGED WITHOUT YOU BEING THERE.

Have you asked yourself how dangote manages his multiple businesses, spread accross the world without his being there at the same time?
There are some of these businesses he doesn't even go to for years.

Madam, we have done enough for one day.
Hope this helps a bit.

Pardon my typos, if any.
I had no time to crosscheck.

Wishing you all the best.

iykmon:
Doing business in nigeria is really not easy. One should have where to get business models for setting up a bakary.
Real estate business is good but it requires a very large capital to set up. It is has a long term recovery process, until a diamond is found in the house that can shorten it , its recovery is long.

hajidel:


Great analysis dear. Especially with the part of mechanical disadvantage. Most people going into business fall in this trap especially bakery business. This business is marginal and every little marginal advantage you can get is profits in your pocket. You should try to save at any given opportunity in order to maximise your profits. This being a lot of us go into business because it’s worked for others and they are Ami g money out of it. We should start small with less expenses and grow from there, this is tough to do trust me and it takes time and double efforts to make it out. Hence 4 in every 5 new businesses go bust within the first year.

Another problem is the market saturation. No matter how much bread we consume if we have more producers than daily consumption the margin for profit is minuscule and the margin for failure is even greater. So find a town with a decent population and operate within that town and believe me if you can minimise expenses you can easily make 25-30% return. How I come to this is from experience and by operating in a niche market.

To capitalise, make good quality products, be vigilant with your workers (they will cut corners and steal at every given opportunity) to you detriment, respect an listen to customers especially those buying wholesale (they are your partners but they have nothing to lose basically because they can collect from another bakery).

Get a van and design the cargo to load bread that will not squash and be neat and presentable all the way to your customers. If you will not buy it then you shouldn’t sell it. Present your product well. GET IN THE VAN YOURSELF A FEW TIMES SO YOU LEARN THEIR ROUTES, THEIR INTERACTION WITH CUSTOMERS ETC. It will go a long way



Doing business anywhere is tough. It looks and sounds easy on the eye but until you put you money where you mouth is then you know for real. Especially here where poverty is strife and the disparity is unbelievable. But if there is any business that you wouldn’t care about the disparity in income and still come out alive is in the bakery business. Low purchasing price but with the right team and plan you could yield a massive return. Talk about $3-5k monthly. And earning is exponential.

nairamaniac:



Numerous thanx for the compliment.

I learnt more from your response.

Especially with the need to explore virgin market environments, even if its under developed.

Also with you seeing your wholesale buyers as a partner.

Top it all is you as the MD or CEO getting involved with road sales/supplies.

That would get u familiar with the routes which your product pass thru and its final sales-points.

Would also give you an opportunity to meet cross paths with your end sellers/customers.


Doing business anywhere in the world indeed has its own perculiar challenge.

SavageResponse:



Running a business in Nigeria is twice as hard as in other places...apart from having to contend with the fact that there is inadequate infrastructure every damn employee is busy trying to steal from you!

nairamaniac:


U are damn right. No where is easy. But Nigeria is at best twice as difficult

amerengues:


Your quote up there was quite insightful!

What’s your opinion on setting up a bakery now? The intent is to get a 3 layer 6 tray oven (electric), 25kg dough mixer, and a 31 piece bread slicer. Want o go into slice bread though with a deeper intent to get involved in other pastries.

I need your priceless input.

codedlee:
what most people fail to realise in bakery business is that the management part is so very much important- running a bakery without good management won't work- everybody minus the owner will kill the business except you run the business on targets!!! what most people who try to tap from experience from bakery owners/consultant don't realise is that if you are not strict,pls don't come near this business!!! saying u make 1200naira per bag as at that year is a lie- your post should be brought down- Blame yourself for not sourcing for Infos. Because your sister is the one running it made you believe anything she says,but if it was someone else that was managing it,I know u would have probably arrested the person,forcefully asking for accounts of every ingredients and kobo- I have seen a lot of bakery fall and a lot of bakery rise ,all cuz of management- that's why when I get contacted from nairaland here about anyone trying to set up a bakery I always ask if the person is truly ready to do what it takes which is having time for the business- as a bakery owner and consultant- I always advice clients who ain't physically present to give anyone that wants to manage the business a targeted amount to pay monthly and still get every Infos. They can start producing 5bags daily and your target is 150k after all expenses and salaries or 200k depends - Then when you see 5bags is working and the target is been reached you increase it- most bakery fall also cux of the selfishness of the owner. Nigerians are greedy and selfish(no vex na my mind I just tell u)- its all good sha.

God bless our ovens to be always hot!!!

nairamaniac:


I went through every bit of ur thread.
The end made me cry and laff at the same time.
So sad and funny ending at the same time.

I have a thing for businesses and its management in general.

And its like u really had/have a passion for the bakery business.
Well even though its a closed chapter, u owe it to yourself to know why it failed, so such mistakes are not repeated in other aspects of your life which may transcend bakery business.

There would have been several reasons why it failed.

But let me start by saying you definitely got it wrong on expecting 40% profit from each bag(plus ingredients).

It would never have been possible even as at then.
The only way you would have arrived at that projection is if you neglected a lot of expenses.

In business, there are 2 types of expenditures;
A) fixed expenditure
B) Recurrent expenditure

I take it that all your total cost to buy a bag and convert it to finished product is in the recurrent expenditure.

I believe you neglected some major details, especially in the actual expenditure for the conversion. That's the only way 40% would have been successful.
And probably the reason you made such omitions was that you were incapable of inculcating those obmited details into one bag of bread.
Either that or you went into the business with a mindet of 40% based on what you heard from people.

Now I am sure you didn't include recurrent expenditures such as;
1) Salaries/labour
2) electricity( phcn)
3) Diesel for Generator
4) Gas/ firewood / Charcoal for the Oven
5) Cost of supplies to retailers (If you supply to Them)
6) Nylon (painted nylon)
7) Servicing of equipments( those machines, mixers, Miller's and even supply vans have an average servicing cost per month)

If all the above are put put into consideration, I tell you, the most you would have made as profit even as at them is 20%.

Now taking ur figures into consideration.
You were making around 1200 from a bag which cost 11,800(plus baking). It means you were making a percentage of approximately 10%.

But according to me, I say the most you could have made was 20%.
20% translates to making approximately 2,360 per bag.
And that is a maximum.

Fine, 10% may have been on a low side, but. believe me 15% is more than reasonable.

At 15% you should have been making somewhere around 1,770.
That is most likely what you in were making.
Meaning if your sister wasn't performing or eating into your profits.

Her error at 20% profit was 2,360 - 1,200 = 1, 160

Her error at 15% profit was 1,770 - 1,200 = 570

Do your analysis properly and you would realise the 15% one was more likely than 20%.

At your expected 40% profit, it means they (your sister and co) where in accounting for;
40% of 11,800 minus 1,200
= 4,720 - 1,200
= 3, 520
HABBA!!!

It never happened.
I have been involved in feasibility analysis of several businesses, including bread bakery.

However there are several other factors why you may have experienced such low turnout or losses.
Your ingredients were too expensive. Which made your quality too high for the price you were selling.

You didn't get your formula right.
Maybe you were using eggs, milk, which were not necessary for simple bread.

Another reason would have been that your people were buying other ingredients besides flour at a higher price than what it should have been.
Either they inflated those prices or they were cheated by the sellers of the materials.

If I may ask, how many bags were they selling on the average per day.
Not how many they were producing.

At times, people are misled by quantity produced per day.

Let me explain;
Your company may have been producing 5bags per day for 25 days in a month.

But they were selling 2bags per day for 30days.
Meaning at anytime (T) their would have been excessive backlog of bread on your shelf.

Meaning your production costs was multiple times more more than your actual sales/profit.

Another problem was using heavy equipments to do small work.
That is mechanical-disadvantage.
You say automatic-mixing machine and bought it.
Why?
Those things are for people that mix like 8bags and above.
Currently the big size cost around 4.5Million.
But why buy that when you are not
selling like 8bags a day and producing like 12bags a day.

You should have gone for the manual mixer which currently cost around half a million. Even though it would entail more labour/salary which is nothing compared to the light bill/diesel your auto mixer would consume.
We haven't talked about the size of generator the automixer would use. Which is at least a 20kva generator (diesel)
Over 2million naira.
Back then you spent around 1million for the gen.

In conclusion, u didn't get your business model right.
And there is no business you can't manage from anywhere in the world. You coulf have.been in uk and manage that business without any qualms, If you tidied your own end properly.

One of the biggest lessons I learnt from management is;

YOU ONLY KNOW YOU ARE A GOOD MANAGER, WHEN YOUR BUSINESS IS BEING WELL MANAGED WITHOUT YOU BEING THERE.

Have you asked yourself how dangote manages his multiple businesses, spread accross the world without his being there at the same time?
There are some of these businesses he doesn't even go to for years.

Madam, we have done enough for one day.
Hope this helps a bit.

Pardon my typos, if any.
I had no time to crosscheck.

Wishing you all the best.

bebe2:

cant believe am just seeing this

thank u so much for taking the time to put this together.
I learnt a lot of lessons from that bakery.
best of all it did not bring a fight between my sister and I. the building is still there and she can continue if she wishes.

Palantir:


Does this mean you gave up on the bakery?

bebe2:

cant believe am just seeing this

thank u so much for taking the time to put this together.
I learnt a lot of lessons from that bakery.
best of all it did not bring a fight between my sister and I. the building is still there and she can continue if she wishes.

bebe2:

yes I pulled out of it,

I was losing my sanity

Palantir:


That's sad. But like I always say, an entrepreneur is a failure who learns to succeed.

So what are you doing now? Still operating a business in Nigeria from whereever it is you are?

bebe2:


well now that I have recovered from that, am preparing to go into transport, hire purchase or balance as carry as they call it.

the plan is get a couple of buses and give it to drivers to balance it with a year and half.