 Restorant business is one of the most profitable ventures in the world and in Kenya the restaurant business has been growing exponentially over the past five years before we got hit by COVID-19 so to help us look at the restaurant business is on how it is faring right now I'm joined by Gertrude Moodola she owns and manages her own restaurant known as GEM delicacies thank you for creating time to be thank you so much all right so standing us off I would like to find out how long have you been in the restaurant business okay it's uh I'm new to the business it's over one month now oh one month yeah how how is business right now I can't complain much it's so good as long as you listen to your customers you also pay you begin with their opinion it's awesome all right so how did you get into the food industry like what was your interest and in what position were you uh were you at when started I'm a customer care service uh I did a hostessing but apparently right now with the COVID-19 it's a hard together jobs jobs but I just I like cooking so much I love cooking so I just decided to venture into restaurant all right and you go into this particular industry when it was the point where we are actually being hit so hard with COVID-19 business business is taking a risk yeah so I just it's a risk I took and I'm not regretting what was the initial capital where did you get your capital to start uh I had some savings that is where I started from yes so what sort of background do you have your background in hospitality what education background do you have uh as I told you before I did customer care so I have nothing in hospitality it's just the passion I have the passion that drives me in preparing the good meals that my customers enjoy all right so for someone who is watching this and they're thinking okay you have a background in customer service which is essential when it comes to just conversing with your customer and also bringing in potential customer in they will be asking uh what do I need to start like a food vendor business yeah as long as you have people who support you that is one people who give you the moral to just go for it because you have you have some others who oppose you like that is not your field but if you listen to yourself and you listen to those who give you the the good vibes you will go for it all right and we have so many restaurants and uh we'll probably tell us where your restaurant is based that before we've been look at what's the niche for you in the market okay uh my restaurant is jam delicacies it's located in Kitengela next to three ways apartments all right yes so what's the niche when it comes to GM delicacies because we have so numerous restaurants out here that serve us different delicacies so what is different when we come when we come to gm delicacies uh the difference in my kiosk my kibandaski is the soup okay the soup migu yangonwe that is what you prepare all right and for those uh for those people who come new or so yeah that is their meal i want your clients when you are going to come sir those are my big up those are my clients so did you consider taking your business online especially during the time of kovik consider you started uh when we were still looking on ways to just just live with kovik 19 and just adapt to the new home uh online no i've never thought of that but i decided to just put it to just put it there for my customers to see like online right now like doing the orders uh i've not reached that point yeah all right so what is your marketing strategy looking forward considering the business is so young so what is the marketing strategy that you have planned for the business maintaining my customers that is one because if you treat a customer right they will go like telling everyone there's a hotel there there's a kibandaski there which is different and that is what they do and it's a kibandaski it's not all about like it's an open air and such a thing for mine i've made it a bit different it's closed so when someone is eating it's a bit private and when you set your prices you also consider them so when they come they look at the menu they're like wow i like this so the next time they come you served one but the next time they come they come like three and the next time they go tell others like right now mostly we do with a ndudi what say one dudi so like you serve one and they're like wow we like your meals they're awesome your customer service is good so the next time you see like they're coming so many of them yeah and i i thank god for that okay you into this full time yeah i mean to eat full time it's a thing i've decided all right so you're living your previous job you were employed and now actually you're running a business what is the different of the two worlds okay being employed you know you're under someone you yeah you work in limits but if you're self-employed you can run yourself you can organize yourself i wake up in the morning this is what i do what i do this and this if you have to sort an issue you can call someone to come and stand up for you as you go sort some issues out but if you are employed you are cut off you are limited to some extent yeah there are pros and cons in the two worlds so let's look at the fact that when you employed you are sure to over check the end of the month yeah and now you are running your business and you actually new to this business so how how do you maintain your finances and what's a couple of financial lessons that you've learned along the way uh what i've learned it's like every day is not sandy so like uh Monday you like have a customer still you're confused Tuesday you have nothing so i've learned to like uh accept that uh you sell today tomorrow it's nothing or tomorrow you sell a bit so it's uh something you have to be patient yeah and just uh patience actually okay do you have how many employees do you have you employed and how have you guys uh been like in terms of keeping afloat during this time of the pandemic uh actually right now because we've just started we are two okay yeah and uh which is reasonable yeah we are two uh but right now uh because we have like workload we are trying to recruit some other people yes well so initially you said that in terms of uh let me take you back initially you said that uh in terms of capital you you used your savings that you had yeah savings did you in your in your mind prior when they're still employed did you have a clear picture that i really want to get into business so i'm starting to save up now or is it's like uh at the end of it like you decided like i want to live my job now i want to get into business let me think of now saving or is it something that you planned earlier that's what i'm asking okay apparently i had started some other businesses that they didn't work interesting yeah i i used to go to kikomba very early in the morning and get second hand clothes by that it was exhausting and it wasn't going through and i tried another one easily i used to go easily now get the new ones uh that one it was a bit uh a bit awesome but it wasn't like that much so the restaurant thing it wasn't in my mind actually but i was just passing by that place and i saw like this container i just to then there was like i need to get a business but i don't know the kind of business i want to put there so i just went to the house and i'm like i love cooking why don't i just like take a risk and try it and i just went for it yeah okay so when it comes to finding a good location for your business how did you come up in considering considering that and what was your plan before even having uh a sport of your own and name it gm delicacy uh the business uh the business i just it's uh it's okay like the location how did you come up with the location how sure are you like see this place this is the right location for my business yeah okay uh you look at the people living around their standard so when you set up a business you like the price should be considered it should consider them uh like for me gm delicacies the food i cook they are okay mostly the people around that place are kisses luyas so the main food should concern them those are your customers okay yeah so like like uh the new the guys most of them like kitengela 90 percent are kisses so when you cook like are they the leg that that leg and managu traditional music yeah they come like they don't complain and the price should be favorable you tell them the price and they're like that's it they don't even bargain okay what are the couple of challenges that you faced uh in your business okay as you when you are introducing customers you find some customers they are they're not patient okay yeah they come they want to be served like they're fast very rough but you just learn how to handle them yeah looking back do you do you regret that you started this business considering that you had to which actually failed looking back do you regret uh getting into the food vendor business okay um i can't regret because it's something that i love doing i love cooking so much so it's passion i really can't regret all right okay for someone who is watching this and they love cooking as you do and they think i've not gone to a school catering school i've not done any sort of like a hospitality uh cost and i just want to start my own restaurant what would be your advice to that person uh if you have a dream go for it it doesn't matter whether you have the papers or not i don't have the papers for hospitality or catering but it's uh you just decide and let your spirit drive you yes all right and uh what about if they bring up the financial aspect of it um the financial you can again you can arrange or you can get alone or your friends can chop in something okay all right so what's the future of gm delicacy um you're going to grow i believe that i have a i i can feel it i'm going to grow like the other place is growing all right yeah okay so the place is growing i believe i really do so let's look at the menu delicacies like the most uh ordered meals at gm delicacy as we wind up for now the area i'm dealing with the fundies you know like there are so many that's your target yeah yeah there are so many constructions going on there and they do the guys even the local people like they come and buy so the main food it's a ugali managu that is the like that one when i when i cook i yeah that is when i cook i know like this one i'm not going with it in the house yeah so like ugali managu that one goes without complaining my tumbo like beef and the legs yeah the soup goes like till people complain like why can't you just cook a lot what are the benefits of you know taking soup because it has it has so many benefits by the way uh like it helps in your bones and yeah for the mothers who have delivered it helps in the milk okay yeah so ugali managu the soup and all else yeah and uh ugali matumbu i also cook chapati yeah they they really sell and the mandazis in the morning oh traditional meals guys who love traditional meals you are all catered for for the fast food guys you know how where to go to but it's not anywhere when it comes to and why are the guys who when you think they they are in generation don't like the traditional like a huge section of the young generation okay like um some of my customer they come with the kids and they're like mommy onam guyangonbe so like they don't know that is food that is they know that yunium guyangonbe all right so how can guys find you uh if they want to come to gm delicacy and just experience the traditional meals that uh that you guys have to offer in your in your restaurant okay uh they can visit us at kitengela yeah they can visit us in kitengela uh three ways apartment just ask for soup where the soup is you won't get lost and we also we also do the orders if you want an order like for the soup uh you can find find me uh zero seven fourteen six hundred four ninety one or zero seven zero seven zero nine twenty six twenty seven oh you can repeat that one the last one oh the last number yes zero seven zero seven twenty six twenty seven all right so as simple as that that's what you reach out to get should and the gm delicacy and get your traditional yami meals thank you very much get your food thank you all right remember you can follow us across all our social media platform that is at y254 channel at michelle ashire so you can find me across all my social media handles so right now you're going for a break and we'll be right back