 What are some of the experiences you have out there? Well, you know, going to, could be a restaurant, could be at a hospital, could be at any institution that offers any kind of service. What was the experience you had? Please tell us on that hashtag, which is why in the morning, but we had asked you an amazing question on our social media platforms regarding business as well. Nini nili kusumbosano in your first business idea, now when there's a piano advice, Garnico to try to start a business as well. So, I'll also love to hear from our guest who is live with us in the studio and that is Mr. Kelvin Gitonga. He is the operations manager at Big Square, Karibusana, Kevin. Asanti sana. How are you feeling this morning? Naskia Elino, kujelim by Asana. Are you ready? Elino kujelim na kudze. Disakuna servantili peyano ajana. It's coming. Above average. It's coming. But anyways, it's still heavy rains because I remember the update they said it's going to go from this place is Kutanyashadi early January. Yeah, so it means it will be a lot of raining in between. I said a bit it's going to get to one or two. Yeah, but in Kenya anything is possible. But anyway, it's away from that. Just tell us a little bit of what you do and why you are here. Just like you said, my name is Kelvin Gitonga, the operations manager at Big Square. Just actually celebrated two days ago, 10 years in the industry. So joined as an intern when I was still a teenager back in 2013. So it's been quite a journey, but full of experiences, full of lessons, full of low moments because not everything is perfect. You get to learn different aspects in terms of the hospitality industry, the restaurant industry. Because actually initially I wanted to be, when I was still in high school, I wanted to be an engineer. And what happened? What happened in the drop? Dreams, I say dreams are valid. What happened to yours? No, I think I did internship at one of the construction sites. Then after that Nili Sema, this is not for me. This is not for me. So I just now went back, I just now did the passion that I was, because actually I wanted to become an engineer because of my dad as well. Oh, your dad is an engineer? Yes, so now I just didn't want, after that Nili Sema to what I kai. But dreams are still valid, you cannot always go back any time. I don't think I've ever loved maths. That's been one of the things, one of the reasons why. Now I see, now I see. But I talk about Big Square, and this week also being customer service week. It's all about matters food and also customers experiencing what you do at Big Square. Tell us a little bit of what happens in there and what products are you guys giving to customers out there now that it's customer service week? We currently have been over, so like today you can enjoy discounted pizzas on the large pizzas are actually alone. So Big Square, so pizza module is actually part of Big Square. Or pizza module. Yes. It's actually part of Big Square. So that's pretty much the same brand just that pizza module is under Big Square anyway. Right. So what happens there? Because somebody told me pizza did not originate from Africa. Of course it did. It came from Italy or Japan? Italy. Italy. So how did your story live in Africa? And now it's a big business. Yes, yes, it's a jewel, but I think Kenyans are now getting accustomed to the pizza, but just the actual pizza that people should eat nearly equal to nothing crust. Right. And that's actually the thing crust. Oh, the thing crust, it may turn into a particular pizza. It may turn into a pizza. For me, I thought the fat one is with a lot of cheese and you know. A good pizza nearly equal to nothing crust. It has lemon. Yes. I can't just say what you opened up to Shiba, so it has nothing crust. Oh well. So it means like there's varieties and different types of recipes. Yes, there are different recipes and even the ones that you currently even have you can still have thing crust if you want. Okay. Even if you come to the restaurant and you say you don't want your pizza with a normal crust, you can still make for your other with a thing crust as well. Right. I'm trying to imagine you know how it's made. Maybe you can a little bit just plain for us a picture. How do you create a pizza from scratch until it's now final and presented to you on the table because they're always juicy and crunchy and pleasing to the eye. So inanzanaunga. So the flour, the flour, the when you mixing the flour you have to have the right ingredients. So when I used skari, salt, flour, flour, sugar, flour, sugar, flour, sugar, oil, salt and water. Salt and water. And yeast of course. Yes. Is it some kind of special flour? No, no, the home baking flour. Oh you too got your chapati. You got your chapati too but not to me. Aha. Yes. So take us to that process. So of course you have to mix the dry ingredients first so that at least you can incorporate all the dry ingredients then now you start adding the water slowly until you now you make it into a dough. Then by the time once it's now formed into a dough you now add the oil at the end. Right. So now when you add the oil you make sure that you also needed the oil so that it's now one thing you don't start seeing traces of oil in the flour because it has to mix well it needs to bind well together. Right. So for that's done you of course push on it into the size that you want if you want thin crust, thick crust depending on the weight that you want. Okay. Then of course now you also have to make the pizza sauce. Aha. So the pizza sauce of course is main it's mainly the basis is tomatoes. So for us we actually make our own pizza sauce we don't buy whatever is in the market. So ours are freshly made. So you crush like real organic tomatoes. Yes. Peel them up. Crush them. Then you of course mix whatever spices you want to mix of course with herbs. All these herbs in there as well. Like oregano or thyme or whichever you want to put because everyone has that all different flavors. Right. So of course we have our own special homemade recipe that we use. Okay. So of course which I can't disclose because that's our... Oh it's a secret. Oh okay. Yeah but if you research on that you can find different various pizza sauce recipes that you can use if you want to make it at home. And of course you have to prepare the toppings whether you want chicken you want beef you want what bacon or whatever. You said toppings what are they? Toppings are what goes into the pizza on the top. On the top. Either any meat or vegetables because others are vegetarians so they take vegetarian pizza. Oh that's veg pizza. Yes vegetarian. Then of course the ultimate is the cheese. Right. I love the cheese. So you have to make sure that you have good cheese. I think that's the secret. If you don't have good cheese then that actually stretches. I don't think that's a good pizza. And it's always crunchy and creamy. Yeah so we like you're saying like you already said about technology we actually have a conveyor oven. So you put the pizza on one end in five minutes and look at the other end come echo ready. And like at home. In five minutes. Yes in five minutes. Once you've put up all the top you've pressed the dough you've rolled the dough if you're doing it at home. Then you just put the sauce the toppings then the cheese and just put on the oven the oven has a conveyor belt so you take it back to your nere. Right. Back amisho. So now it's controlled of course. Not like at home but uta ba tisha 2 angale kai meiva but that one is actually literally controlled. So you put it from one end comes out the other then slice it and then serve it to the customers. Right. So it means you can also make like a couple of them. Yes you can. Yes one. You can do like five, six, seven plates. Yes you can. The oven just will take because the entrance of the oven can either accommodate one or two or three pizzas. Right. So depending on so by the time of koko misho the shiva's water within five minutes. Right. Yes. Damn I never knew that. Yes. Most of us we just come and receive the final product but we don't know there's a lot that goes in there. There is a lot that goes in there because you need to ensure it's actually it's more it's more physical. So there's not the last part of course is just the machine but everything else you have to either use a dough mixer or the dough press to need to make sure that the dough is actually perfectly round because of course you can imagine the volumes and you're you're rolling dough by hand. It's not easy. But most of the ones I've seen with chefs making is they're doing it like hands on. Yes. They don't have machines but you are like a commercial artist so you have to have like a conveyor. Yeah we have a conveyor plus also there's something called a dough press that we actually use to press the dough. So it now it just becomes a perfectly round circle. Right. Yes. All right now talk to us a little bit about that business. How has it been and how is the reception in the market? I know pizza is pizza has a special brand of market you know or a brand of target audience. You rarely will you see somebody from the interiors of Homsalaba or Muranga the interiors like Kujan ataka pizza because they're used to their traditional foods. How is the market so far? Having been that the pizza module brand was actually started was actually launched in 2015 at the AdLife branch so we've seen an uptake in the market and actually since we opened our pizzas have actually been selling of course the initial days people associated big score with ribs. So now when you're introducing to them pizzas are like hey you guys also do pizzas okay let's try it and actually we've people have come to love that our pizzas as well and of course the dynamics between then and now is sort of different because then many people like to eat out so you'll find program to the restaurant and all that but I think after covid things sort of changed slightly because of course the hospitality industry took a hit but at least now things are coming back up at least we've seen almost back to pre-covid sales so that means that people are now not staying indoors as much as they did because we are social beings so of course we have to eat out as well so of course in terms of numbers we're still not back in terms of the full numbers pre-covid but of course it keeps growing day by day in terms of customer before we talk about customer service experience who are some of the frequent customers that come like you can judge you can tell this one is comes from this and this kind of social status in society our branches we have 12 outlets all across Kenya so the clientele varies so you'll find in Mombasa is a different clientele from down in Eldorad I know Eldorad being a place that is mostly frequented by farmers and that's the market that is there but of course it's there they consume a lot of pizza actually they do it's in Eldorad being that it was actually we actually set up the branch in Eldorad during covid we actually saw a very good uptake as compared to what we actually thought as compared to Nairobi no as in terms of the market itself you know Eldorad is a place that is mainly farmers because it's a resilient place exactly so when we saw that actually pizza did well we were actually surprised and even the revenue that you actually anticipated did better than actually what we thought so it was actually a good thing but of course in Nairobi it's different of course the BD branches we have two so the one of course on Mojave is mostly frequented by students because that's a clientele that is on that side of course the one that is at 680 is the branch that is now frequented by guys who are city hall or the office blocks so guys who want to have meetings so 680 is more of a meeting place and then Mojave is more of a party place so that's why they are different clientele in those two branches but of course being that some of our branches are in malls we also have the play areas so it's more or less the background of Big Square is more or less a family oriented restaurant so that's what we focus on pushing meals so you know kids are very we've actually come to realize that kids have a very good influence on parents if a kid says they want to go to Big Square that's exactly where you're going to go right is it like a brand associated with some certain people no, so Big Square is pretty much it's a Kenyan brand it's not a franchise or anything it was actually founded in Kenya of course but it's a Kenyan business but of course the owners are not Kenyan but it's actually everything is Kenyan so the only thing so the only thing that we import only the equipment of which because we don't manufacture anything so of course you have to import our equipment all right so but in terms of all our produce from our potatoes to our tomatoes to our chicken to everything else that we use they're all local suppliers all right before you tell me about food safety and customer service why did you do it all guys settle in plus it's like bongoma or the interior of kakamega does it also vary with like you look at the market and you see hey apa ni kia kasi you ni kantapata clients okay you know before before you set up in a place you need to understand your market and also do you have the money you should do it and you see especially after covid things a bit slightly slowed down and you need to also offset you need to also make sure that all your your staff first of all are catered for your clients are players are catered for and everything else is still in place and you see since we rely on money that actually comes in and not external investments that's what we focus on so for you to open a new outlet to open a big square will probably cost you about 40 million that's that's a big amount of cash exactly so you see you can't just you need to look for somewhere to get it so we have to ensure that everything else currently is is in place so you have to set up you have to make sure that your celebrating procedures are good either team that you actually have a very supportive people that at least by the time you're getting to open a new outlet then you have the capacity and that's what you've only expanded to two markets outside Nairobi so that's elder it and only Mombasa right so of course that's where we're currently at we have of course a vision of going to Kisumu to Nakuru to where else I think we were also mainly the main areas so that's mainly it's mostly that we're looking at this mainly in Nakuru and Kisumu that we're looking at as for now yeah so eventually we'll get into those places yeah so meaning anyone can consume pizza see yes anyone can but on a Samangasi chakula mabuza mabuza oskula pizza no, of course some we'll do the same ever lakini sometimes you don't feel like hitting home up on food I'm on this hiku pika you just want something to take out it can be a snack there's a time I ate pizza in 20 I think the last time I ate pizza seriously was in 2021 na nilkona kula kama snack yeh chaya subui because it was a chicken flavored one it was so crunchy and cheesy yeh, most of us pizza kibaki jiyoni what do you do I'm cutting the sour yasubui so it can be used as a good snack yeh, you can and it was very thick nili pandasana you the chicken flavor siyadao tukulu ugali matumbu for breakfast so pizza can be a snack so blue your nation how do you guys handle this food safety food safety measures because hygiene really matters you know there's places you can walk in and you see the pansana serving you and you're like oh my god I've already paid for it I can't run away you know there's places you've been you go through and you're like no eh we leto umtu anaka I knew your food de kaisafi so how do you guys maintain that hygiene in terms of food safety hygiene and handling it handling it over to your clients so we actually have someone internal who's who's who's the who's the head food health and safety now in our organization so we've set up procedures in terms of receiving in terms of production and all those things so of course with food you have to be very careful so in terms of the cooking temperatures and the cooling temperatures of cooking cooling the cooking temperatures and cooling temperatures so there's a certain dangers on that food the temperatures if for example food is safe above 65 between 65 and above degree it's safe but and then 65 that's high temperature yeah so that's high temperature but now when it's cool when it's when it's supposed to be cold it should be at least five degrees and below all right so the dangers on of course now becomes anything in between this between of course above five and below 65 that that range is called the dangers on it applies to both solid foods and liquids ah yes so it also depends but also depends in terms of whether the product actually has preservatives of which we don't so there's nothing about products that we actually add preservatives to yeah because all those products that deserve to have preservatives yes but see our products are fresh products so things like ribs chicken that's you you it has a sudden period that you can't sell it after that so of course we add preservatives of course it's like extending the shelf life we don't want to do that because our policy is made fresh when you order yeah so when you see when you come to a restaurant you won't get something in three minutes food in three minutes you have to you have to wait wait at least 15 minutes actually our prep time is 15 minutes so you have to just make sure that everything that we prepare is actually fresh so in terms of even our pizzas if you go to a restaurant you'll find that our staff handle pizzas with gloves with gloves with gloves so of course you first of all wash your hands sanitize your hands and then also now you'll have to wear gloves so that's pretty much the safety procedure that we also have to take to ensure that everything that the food that you're being given is actually safe and also the storage temperatures in terms of the chillers you have to make sure they're serviced to ensure that the temperature never goes above five degrees so in short you can't meet readymade food like when I gave and I said oh I want pizza blah blah blah and it pops out no pizza actually you can't make pizza because after 10 minutes it's gone because it's now the cheese now solidifies and the crust becomes hard which you can't you can't really use it yeah but for things like ribs when you order and they take a leg or grill then you'll get to being at least 10-15 minutes to put off the vehicle the most businesses actually pay attention to especially food outlets do they pay attention to such you know measures because they can only margin at a place like at a kibandaske of course you don't expect you know high levels of hygiene but yeah from the standard of yours at least you have to adhere to that because also the kind of clients that walk in like I mentioned to you can walk to a place and judging by just the fast appearance you have already turned off of course so I think for us we have audits so every month we have every bunch has to be done for an audit and the past mark is 85% so you have to make sure that the hygiene standard the service standards the products that are being received actually there are temperatures even when a delivery truck comes which is refrigerated you have to make sure that the temperature is actually within the safe zone so of course in a kibanda you won't get that because you okay now a kibanda kuna at a fridge kuna pizza muitu ah kuna pizza muitu so then bona is cause ah it's then nika iko because you see cheese I'm a homemade beater homemade pizza you can make but if you homemade pizza you'll make it how you love it right sure yeah because for us we make everything with love that's actually a tag made with love made with love okay okay okay so ah kwa kibanda kuna at a fridge kuna at a fridge so and even when you're eating wada patata panya e piti apokaribuna where we yeah so but for us the food slaps still yeah and see that's the thing sometimes you will have food slaps a moment where you just want to go to and have that experience in terms of just something that is yo muitu anya especially kama kitambu chupu muitu iliku naslab vizuri still today but we naslab naswalking like no just as ilima jualazili baniwa na lazemu iliku na kuli apokarata by the way yeah yeah things are transitioned so but people are becoming very um health conscious and also you just have to make sure that the food that you're actually giving to the customer is very is very safe so even from the vegetables you have to make sure that the vegetables being used are very clean cause there's a sudden procedure that we take our team through how to clean your vegetables how they're supposed to be sanitized and all those things right yeah is there maybe a reason for example let me paint it to you like this for any business to start off you must look for a target audience you must look for starting capital you must look for sometimes backup support system and maybe what are some of the factors that made you guys that this business was it and why pizza like specifically pizza as a product I think there was a niche of good pizza I think you felt like there was agap on the market yes there was agap there was agap in the market okay because you can't start a business to start a brand without knowing that there was actually agap in the market for any business to start there's agap right too so even when the delivery partners come into place there's agap so specifically for us we felt that we needed to give customers good pizza yeah because pizza mojo what is mojo getting your groove back right so mojo means get your mojo back get your pizza back right so that's pretty much what we what we stand for so you get if you especially the barbecue chicken pizza that we serve kids love it it's actually our best selling pizzas because it's made fresh the base is fresh the dough is fresh the cheese is the best cheese that you can actually have so the supplier that we actually use for cheese are cheese that you actually enjoy because nojo kuna cheese ingine neza pata yes and it's when you smell it smells like milk so and cheese not supposed to smell a homemade cheese yeah kuna but you see there's certain parameters just like wine the certain parameters that you need to achieve to get good wine so the same as cheese the certain parameters that you need to do to achieve good cheese yeah actually you can tell a difference when you eat some of products that have cheese yes you can tell a difference this one smells butterish this one tastes you know sugarish and and what not milkish and hence why you go to the supermarket you'll find a whole range of suppliers to supply cheese and if you look at the price points you'll find that they're not the same because there's one there's one or two people who make very good cheese and that's what you must rely on yes and you see for us supporting local local farmers is what we what we aim so the suppliers that we use are actually all local suppliers the vegetable suppliers to the meat suppliers to everyone else because those are the main people that we use so that's everything everyone else that we use around us is all local so back to pizza we felt that there's a gap that we need to give customers good pizza so of course you need to have the right location but even before you even get the right location you need to do market research yes do market research because it's important by the way to do market research because you see I think many people currently are opening restaurants because if they feel it will make them money and clubs you've seen a lot of them in the residential areas but what happens to clubs usually after two years a new club something new has come up again so this one is forgotten attention goes to that one exactly so but you have to keep you have to make sure what exactly are you giving customers so for us in the food industry we must give you good food so by doing market research you get to understand what do customers really want so what sort of product they want what are the challenges they experience when you go to restaurants because initially we were more of a fast food restaurant but now we are more of a casual dining because our customers get to the restaurant be seated down be offered a glass of water I mean a bottle of water then you're able to enjoy the full experience of service and just the ambience should be welcoming so the music how the decor of the restaurant also has to matter the lighting the pictures whatever is in the restaurant just has to make you feel as if you're at home so those are things that people need to really consider because you can have a very good ambience but very crappy food and also sometimes bad service and since it's customer service maybe you can also chime in on that how you guys are delivering excellent service to your clients and maintaining that client base or that fund base because I also interviewed someone here who said most of our clients are repeat customers who actually refer other customers so it's a chain of customers coming in and going out and speaking a word to the outside exactly how do you guys maintain that so of course for us we really invested in training so we actually have a training team that actually trains our staff so that's something that we always whenever I go to the branches whenever everyone else who's part of the management team goes to the branches these are things that you actually look at for how the customer is welcomed how the customer is served how long does it take for the order to come out so of course if you realize there's gaps you have to make sure that you address it and get to understand why is there that gap so is it a training need is it the fact that those are laps in the kitchen or something so you must really get to understand what exactly the issue is and by having our team especially the managers on the floor the supervisors on the floor we get to understand what the customers really want because we have a feedback form on all our tables so just scan the QR code and give you feedback in terms of how is your general experience were you welcome and how was the food did the manager visit your table so that's enabling us to know exactly where the gaps are and since customer service week we need to ensure that our customers are happy because you want to go to a place and leave you want to go to a place happy and leave happy and sometimes you'll get customers who maybe are not maybe they're having a bad day so it's up to you to actually make that customer feel happy and we've actually had those scenarios like you can make someone who's ametokana mambozaki but when they get there their day gets kinda wrong the day actually just turns out to be amazing it happens because since the interaction you know like small things we've had parents who come with kids and then the kids are running around and you'll find the waiter probably is going to take the kid and hold them and then the parent gets time to eat those small gestures make people very happy about because you're going the extra mile there's no way it's written in your job description that you need to hold the customer's kid but because you're having that and you see you can only do that during slow days because of course in a busy day you can't ignore the customers as well so simple acts of service simple gestures make customers really happy just by saying thank you how was your day how was everything going you see some of those things they actually mean a lot they mean a lot they may be very tiny things but they actually mean a lot because if you're asked by a stranger how was your day it's something at first of all you'll get shocked about and be like okay but you can ask someone how was your day and they'll be like so you want to know my day can you handle it exactly so you see that that's also an opportunity for you to transform this person's day yeah because you've given the time you've given the attention because the simple acts of service in my telling a customer I like your dress and I like your suit and I like certain things are they seem very small but they're actually very big in the customer's eyes so those simple things of act of service is what we really focus on because we want to give customers an experience not just come to big square eat ribs and walk out want you to enjoy the full experience from our drinks to our milkshakes especially our milkshakes our homemade sangria that we actually do many people will not understand what that is but it's just a blend of sounds like indianish it's just a blend of wine and what is it called in brandy so it's like a punch yes so we actually want to have one of the best sangria in town all right wow I can't wait to find out what that is and maybe still on that no do you feel like maybe there's there's a code of conduct for every person in the service industry to stick to and adhere to in terms of maintaining their client base and a good relationship yes I think there is I don't think whether I don't know that it's written or not but it's something that if you're in the hospitality industry what is your aim what is the end goal the end goal is to ensure the customer is happy because you need to make sure that when the customer walks in because you're representing one you're representing the brand that you're working for in this case for us it's big square but you're also representing a personal brand you are me for example as Kelvin I'm a brand by myself and you see it doesn't mean that you being there you just come into work and then go home you have to make sure that by the time you're leaving you've actually have had an impact either yourself or even on the customer right so it's it's maybe an andresian role but in every even if it's an airline if you go work for an airline or if you go into into a plane from the minute the person who is checking you in comes in what do you want to feel you want to feel welcomed you want to feel that you actually matter you want to feel special because you have to treat each and every customer no matter how they address no matter how they look you must treat them the exact same way because it's a hospitality industry right so it's just mainly like an andresian role you just have to make sure that the customer come leaves that restaurant better than they came in yeah yes in a line of duty have you ever met someone who's combative and just aggressive of course everybody has issues but you know this person is trying to project they complain a lot you know there's always just one person in that crowd who says something of you know trying to like just create a mountain out of a molehill that was not there how did you handle such a scenario I think you just have to sometimes just step down to that person's level as much as it's it's not it's not the right it's it's not the right thing to do because in terms of business you're affecting yourself so for example you'll you'll you'll serve a customer and it's a kula kwa mbe by the way I didn't order for this and you're like okay but you've just finished the plate there's ever been such an experience like somebody has finished eating everything I miss mash it's clear like you and for people you'll get someone who's maybe ordered for a large yeah who's ordered for medium and then a customer in the middle of that a customer no I wanted a large but at the time when I let you a large and I said but then you wanted a medium asha maliza asha maliza so you have to try and understand that customer but sometimes you have to look at the cost benefit analysis do you want to cause a scene you have 100 other customers around you would the customer rather pay for the medium yes they ate a large but you just get that loss and just move on because on the day you don't want to create such a volcano because that's going to be almost like bad publicity yeah so you have to be very careful so you're protecting your brand at the same time yes you have to protect your brand wow yes at the end of the day you have to protect your brand for me that's the time I call security and chonga viazi comes in has there been such incidents as by the way yeah there has there has to be kazi matui chonga viazi kus at this point kus now it's I don't think I would as I make a sa kulipa bill then it can be a a tenoka chonga viazi it doesn't it doesn't what do you do take them to jail temporary let the security handle it all right because now it's if the manager but of course security will have to go to police or something yes of course so that's now we handle because we have in some of our outlets we have security guards so of course we leave it to them for them to follow it up for us right yes right in any in every business actually there's there's usually competition there's your biggest competitors there's those you look up to there's those you're like damn I wish I was doing what you're doing and then there's those that you know they like they never go out of business they're always there you know have you met Sanchinio in your industry as well yes you say hey they give us a run for money very fast of course we have various competitors who are in this industry the major players who've been there even longer than us right others who've been there for 20 years others who've been there for 30 years yeah so of course we have of course taken away part of their customers which is natural but also the same time we've got into a point that yes as much as they're bigger than me but they still give me a run for their money yeah so you just have to make sure that the experience that the customer gets and they get into the the restaurant is good because that's what's gonna make that customer come back because if I come into a restaurant pay for food yes I've gotten that sale for that particular day but if I had a if I have a bad experience chances of me coming back may be very slim and trying to get me back there is gonna take a lot of effort so you just have to make sure that yes of course you're gonna have bad days we will have complaints we will have those things which is inevitable in any industry even in your own industry there's no single it is no single month that you'll just go that everything was just smooth you'll of course have hiccups here and there but it just it just depends on how you handle it because you see you have to try and recover that customer but if you ignore it then you're not you're not done yourself justice you just have to make sure that yes this customer had a bad experience how do you make it up to them yes fantastic and it's not even only at it's just giving complimentaries but also just oh complimentaries but they were a part of it yeah so it's not about just giving complimentaries yeah so sometimes if someone has had a bad experience even if I just come into a community that you made a mistake and actually and just saying I'm sorry goes a long way is it possible to have such enough in a fast in a fast line business because most of these restaurants will never apologize I don't want to bring out that scenario anyways there's somebody who bought an iPhone at this big iPhone company kumbe they're being said they're being sold to second hand you know iPhones and then only return for these guys to do research and realize eh you guys have been playing us all this time you're selling us second hand phones that should be you know sold at a like two times lower the price of the original brand new so you know customers doing such research and finding out crazy things about the business corner it can really put you at stake it really can and also some people may not be able to apologize but I think we've we take up the role of just trying to recover that customer just by saying sorry even just by apologizing even just by saying yeah we'll let's look into it at least you've said you're going to do something about it because you see sometimes it may not really be your fault but the fact that you say you're going to look into it and do an investigation goes a long way just by the fact of you're going to look into it acknowledging it and saying you're going to look into it is a different conversation altogether right because as someone has DMed you and they've had a complain and then you just ignore it just by acknowledging and just saying let's look into it and then we'll get back to you right yeah also delivery really matters and this means I understand your clients sometimes they can make a call yes they say hey I can't come to your you know location but he's that way I can have this piece and this and this in that delivered to me how do you guys use that and also how do you guys incorporate technology because I understand I understand nowadays you know there's a load that happens in the auto social media as well now that you know there's digital platforms there's huge presence on Instagram eggs and many other social media platforms so you guys making use of that and how has it been so of course we have delivery partners of course just like the rides you can order a bolt you can order whatever so even for us we use the delivery platforms like Jumiya Glovo Bolt Uber just to make sure that we reach and we reach the other audience because you don't not every single time we do want to drive from your house to to the restaurant but you just wanted to deliver to your doorstep so that that is possible and it does happen yeah yeah because that for us we're not we're in the business of doing food not um deliver not um logistics so we give this delivery partners the opportunity for them to be able to do to do that right yes to deliver our food to them yes I'm trying to get the question of the day first but we'll get there first in terms of social media presence are you guys making use of digital platforms like eggs I will mostly active on we're trying to now upgrade our TikTok account because that's why that's not anything but we're actually we're very involved in Instagram and Facebook usually yeah all right we had an interesting question that we also posted on our social media and I'll get to your feedback in just a bit but we asked our viewer in your first business idea on as a piano advice gani kwam tu manya Antakakustata business especially the first initial stages I know there's there's a way you can you can have an idea write it down and even change it to another idea or polish it up or even do it permanently and then have another alternative so for you ni advice gani as a piano kwam tu Antakustata business any business in the world I think first of all you need to do your research and also think through about it and just create it may not be the best of business plans but just have an idea about it so do research in terms of your competitors and also do an assort analysis so assort analysis it's just mainly just check the strength the weaknesses the opportunities and the threats that give you in a nutshell exactly what you need to do in terms depending on the industry that you want to go to because if you don't do assort analysis then you won't really understand the market that you're going into depending on whichever may be it hospitality be it logistics be it anything you just have to make sure that you do assort analysis to understand the market that you first of all getting into and of course my other advice would be do something that you passionate about I think that is saying but I don't know that I'll get it correct but do something that you can do it with passion that you can go a day without getting paid for it because you love it that much so you don't mind if it doesn't give you money or not yes you just love it so you see eventually because you love it so much what's gonna happen in the end you'll get money you'll get a chance from it because you're doing it with love you're doing it with passion so just don't start a business that you first of all don't have an idea about or a business that you're not passionate about because if you're not passionate about something chances of you doing it to the best of your ability are very low yeah because it's already a mindset it's already a mindset so there's no point of that happening where you can actually just make sure that you do what you love and if you're passionate about something you can every and I think you can turn any idea into a business idea any idea into a business idea yeah it just it just depends on how you execute it and also have mentors around you ask questions get to understand what what that industry is all about because if you don't at least if you do all that research because if you come to a restaurant and even just ask a waiter what how is this industry you'll get that's already market teachers just for free because you'll be asking them how is this industry how are customers how is everything because some waiters will not really ignore you because they'll have that time to discuss with you and all that so even have friends if you have friends who are in the same industry ask them those questions what are the challenges and that is networking by the way yeah and then the day it's all networking and then also just attend some of this events if here there's a like I think there's an export I think at Syrate or something attend those things it will help you broaden your your mindset and also meet like minded people yes all right let me just sample part of your feedback before you finalize there's Edga Edga Hansa Melon Mask I see what you did with that name Melon Mask Anasema Gabriel EcoLogged Prince Paul Miendo David Bungoma County Shara to you Ketrin Shikoh Anasema Sana from Kanganda in Muranga Eric Jackson Anasema trying to get the real profit of the business but the profit starts a better accumulation after three months but is it possible for someone to start a business like umansa this month and you're making profit the following months no I don't I don't know a chance why not because first of all in the initial stages you're trying to get your balance in the market and first of all don't really know about you so you have to get your name out there so before you start getting the influx of customers from different places then of course it takes time you can't build a customer base just within the first one month it takes time for you to build because you have to get that repeat business for them for you to now be sustainable all right yes maybe it's a business that's for example which which I think in one of the morning stories we read there's one that has been resilient is Uchumi so I don't know if it's the one that converted to another hyper market or supermarket it's it's possible anyways we'll get to that you know what it's about that and it's a weekly Mugambi Anasema Capital you find many people have business ideas but capital only challenge right right yes true that I think that's even for me as as young as I am you don't just want to start your own business but where is the capital so you just I think for guys maybe who have the money but don't have the idea then you can merge those two because I told you have the money who want to invest but they don't know where to invest in because maybe they also have a restaurant but they don't know someone they don't know they don't have someone who knows how to manage the restaurant because to find someone who actually understands the industry is willing to help you and is the one thing that I think we get a challenge with is integrity yeah to find someone who will actually be genuinely genuinely honest authentic authentic it's I think it's it's quite hard and I think that's for me every day that I speak to even my my juniors and even the guys my colleagues as well yeah there are three things that I work with loyalty honesty and integrity loyalty and honesty integrity kofalis yeah because but for me the integrity stands out the most yeah because even in gava yeah for me I'm just saying for me as an why why does it matter to you for me it matters because you see at the end of the day like I said earlier you're a personal brand yeah there's no because you see you meet someone for example you know Kelvin Akulize how is Kelvin yeah what will they say about Kelvin the story they say about you exactly the PR the PR about Kelvin matters a lot because at the end of the day Akulize I would like you to say by they gave I was stressed but if you can get a point that actually by they gave me someone that you can actually rely on that's now a good thing right too I agree with you so I think in all in like I said your own brand the Kelvin brand or the sakwa brand that's something that you always have to live by because remember as much as you may not know it but people are watching you people are watching what you do people are watching how you act and sometimes you may not know it or see it or feel it but they are but they are actually watching you so even when you do something this person is going to watchful yeah they're like ah sakwa did that let me try it so you see if you do something wrong and you're also misleading someone else behind you all right because they may be older than you or they may be younger than you but they look up to you because you can be a mentor in your own right exactly yeah whether whether it's a young person or an older person you're a mentor in your own right right so you have to make sure that you watch what you do and the steps that you actually live behind because someone else wants to walk into those steps yeah because someone wants to I want someone asperged to be where you are so if you live the wrong steps then you're actually misleading someone else and that person is misleading someone else and the chain goes on and the chain goes on all right we have to go we have to go Kelvin we are out of time I don't know how time has flown yeah I don't that very fast time is because we are talking too much but yeah we have to go for anyone who wants to access you find you on social media or maybe give you a call and maybe also get to check out your products how can they reach you this is your camera um so if so for me personally it's um the instagram page is kelvin underscore gitonga underscore wherever but if it's for big square you can just reach on all platforms at big square ke all right yes that thank you very much thank you for talking to us about that I had like so many questions but time we have been speaking to Kelvin Gitonga his operations manager at big square Karibusana and thank you so much hopefully you may to may to let you tell something yeah no I'll let you tell you and you know so this is Yajona but it's all right but thank you so much here's what we call it a day many thanks for watching my good name is Sakwa at YTOFA4 channel on all social media platform including threads I've not yet understood how to use it but you can tell me mines it's at Brian Sakwa 101 have a fantastic Tuesday we'll see you next time right here on Y in the morning