The food industry in Africa is experiencing a gradual growth process. Investors and other stakeholders in the industry are slowly growing in confidence about investing in platforms such as PieMe. This is because most investors don’t view the concept as one that would last long. Well, PieMe is proving that they’re not one such project. Let’s take a look at how PieMe can break that barrier.
Making this kind of platform can be challenging. This is because most of the customers are young children, so you’ll have to collaborate with schools and colleges to meet the demand of these schoolchildren. Another reason it may be challenging to start is the cost of materials such as cookers that are used in this kind of business.
However, PieMe is attempting to saturate the African restaurant market further. This time, a number of clever Ugandan businesspeople are in charge. Let’s take a look at how the concept of PieMe started and what they went through:
The Idea Behind PieMe
It all started when Joshua Kainja and John Muhindo, two Ugandan friends, visited Kenya in 2018. They wanted to eat like the locals because they had heard about great Kenyan delicacies like roasted meat, collard greens, and cornmeal before the trip.
Read also: SA Women entrepreneurs secure Naspers and Grindstone accelerators
So, as a result, the Makarere alumni pals endured what most travellers go through when they move to a new country: ignorance about where to stay and where to eat the local cuisine.
“When you’re new in a place, you will meet more high-end restaurants and apartments, so that gave us a reason to create PieME, so we can source for accommodation from the locals and get food from them,” says Kainja, CEO of PieMe.
To cut a long story short, when Joshua and John got home, they began making moves to develop the PieMe concept. The business began operations in Uganda; to start that time, it functioned as a platform where people travelling from Uganda to Nairobi could get local Ugandan food, accommodations, and other cultural features.
So far, they’ve made progress in terms of collaborating with chefs or other food enthusiasts that wish to join PieMe. If you’re one, just share pictures or videos of meals cooked by you and send them to them using their apps, and your recipe might just be wanted worldwide.
“Let’s say you’re in Lagos, which has different communities, we would have hosts (Cooks) in these areas, and people can order homemade food from them,” says Robert Okello, PieMe’s Head of Growth, who oversees the Middle East and African expansion.
The business also collaborates with colleges and culinary schools to have their current students launch their restaurants on PieMe, giving them a stage to demonstrate their abilities at an early stage.
“PieMe is a social network for food. A food movement, and a revolution,” Okello declares. “The hosts can create content, host events, and invite foreigners. If you’re a user, you’re able to scroll through food content on the platform like you would on Facebook.
PieMe collaborates with the hosts to deliver the food items to clients after a user decides to place an order. According to Okello, the business collaborates with ARC and eBee Electric, two electric vehicle manufacturers, to advance sustainability objectives.
If you’re a chef, you could do well to use these channels made by PieMe to launch your cooking career and share your food recipe with the world.
PieMe Plans For The Future
PieMe has over 3000 hosts throughout both nations, and by the end of the year, it hopes to reach 10,000. It has also been successful in luring 13,000 users (9000 in Uganda and 4000 in Kenya).
Even though Kenya has a strong Internet penetration rate and a high level of digital literacy, both founders are from Uganda. The adoption rate in Kenya has increased significantly in just three months.
It intends to spread to nations with similarly lively cuisine traditions as Kenya, such as Nigeria and Egypt, during the following year. The goal is to increase the company’s average revenue, which is now $10,000, to $100,000 over the coming quarters. PieMe’s position is aided by the presence of primarily indirect rivals with different business strategies, such as Jumia Food, Glovo, or Uber Eats.
In the upcoming quarters, PieMe also intends to run a similar business model to Airbnb, allowing consumers to rent nearby accommodations as well as purchase food from the host or other nearby hosts.
The concept of PieMe is one to watch out for in the future. In the next 5 years, they could become a big part of the culinary world all over Africa.
