+Fearless Energy Drink Produced By Rite Foods
Rite Foods is one of the companies doing well in the Food sector, with products that are making waves in that sector. It took the market by storm in 2007 and within so short a time, it has taken over the space, with its various products which include Sausages, beverages, energy drink and its premium water. Rite Foods Limited launched as a company in December 2007 as a subsidiary of the Ess-Ay Holdings Limited. It was in the mid-2000s, following the digital evolution in photography that the Group decided to diversify into the FMCG sector, which led to the birth of Rite Foods Limited. Between 2007 and 2021, Rite Foods brands have taken over every space in the country. From the north to the south and down to east and west, Bigi drinks have taken over the party spaces which were traditionally owned by Coca-Cola and Pepsi who had been in the market for more than 40 years before the birth of Bigi drinks. City People’s Brands & Products takes a dig into how Rite Foods slugged it out with different market leaders in the food industry and why it is gradually becoming the only indigenous company with the nerve to battle international companies and still remain very vibrant in the market.
RITE SAUSAGES BATTLED UAC’S GALA & LEVENTIS SAUSAGE ROLL
According to Rite Foods MD, Seleem Adegunwa, Rites Sausages came into the market at the time Nigerians were asking for more in the sausage roll market. Rite Sausage Roll was the first food brand to land the market; it battled gala, at its launch and now it is still battling meaty, beefy, super bite and a few other sausage rolls in the market.
Let’s quickly tell you that Rite Foods was the first company to introduce varieties into the sausage roll market. It did by introducing Rite Spicy Sausage roll, a snack that was entirely different from the regular beef sausage roll. It finally broke the horses back by introducing Bigi Beef in January 2010. We introduced our sausage roll products many years later simply because we believe that there’s nothing that cannot be improved upon and Nigerians are the better for it today, MrAdegunwa said. Today, rite foods has three sausage roll products in the market which are equally accepted and is currently sharing a market slice among other products in that sector.
BIGI SOFT DRINKS NOW IN HOT DEMAND
Did you know that at most owambe in Nigeria today, Bigi Drinks have become more visible than other soft drinks. Not that alone, it is now the most sought after for one reason, there is a flavor for every individual. Unlike other brands with just three or four flavors of the carbonated soft drink, (CSD), Rite Foods, the makers of Bigi soft drink already has twelve variants of the Bigi Drinks and still promises to do more. Bigi has cola, orange, soda water, lemon and lime, bitter cola, tamarind, ginger ale, tropical, apple, chapman and cherry cola. There is no other CSD in Nigeria with that number of varieties. One thing Rite Foods Company has successfully done is to put all producers of carbonated Soft drink brands on their toes as we have seen more introduction of other product flavours the to the market.
Last week, City People’s Brands & Products took to the market to find out why many Nigerians now prefer Bigi soft drinks to other products and it found out that Bigi soft drinks offer more content and quality at a cheaper rate. While other brands sell 50clbottles of their CSD at N150, Bigi CSD 60cl is sold at N120. It is not just cheaper, it has more quantity. One of the respondents said.
HOW FEARLESS ENERGY DRINKS DISRUPTED THE ENERGY DRINKS MARKET
To think that an indigenous brand can become a market leader in the energy drinks sector that was awash by foreign brands would have been quite arguable; but Rite Foods did it remarkably well and within a short period too. As of January 2017, there was no indigenous energy drink in the Nigerian market. However, Rite’s Fearless Energy Drinks took the market by storm in June that same year and today, it has set the pace for the way energy drinks is being packaged in the country. Fearless came into the market by changing the from the customary can packages to pet bottles which yielded unprecedented acceptability. Not just that alone, Rite Foods also offers varieties in the energy drink market. Today, there is no brand that has more than one flavor of energy drink but Fearless has too; classic energy drink and red berry energy drink. Another strategy that has always worked for Rites also proved successful. The Fearless energy drinks offer more for less.
FACTORS THAT WORKED FOR RITE FOODS IN THE NIGERIAN MARKET
Success may be regarded as a fluke until it is being repeated and Rite Food has repeated successes countless times and it is still not resting on its oasis. Starting from the sausage roll, Rite Foods has always offered more than all its competitors. Just as stated above, offering varieties has placed it on a pedestal that only a few can match. Rite Foods has three variants of its sausage roll, 12 variants of its beverages and 2 variants of its energy drinks. This and many more reasons made Boluwatife Adedugbe, Assistant Marketing Manager, Rite Foods Ltd. reveal to Brands & Products that Rite Foods are Nigeria’s favourites in terms of quality, quantity, services, innovations and more.
Innovation: Rite foods is where magic happens. When Brands & Products visited Rites Food factory in OsosaIjebu, it was amazed at the level of excellence and professionalism put in by a Nigerian brand within the Nigerian territory. Rite Foods is re-writing history not just with varieties but also with the kind of expertise put in place to ensure that Nigerians get quality from its one of its own. Nigeria might have been known with producing substandard products in the past but Rite Foods has changed that completely. Rite can boast of being a Nigerian company with a world standard within Nigeria. The company keeps thinking about Nigeria and keeps offering more. Who knows if she might come up with another variant of its Bigi drink tomorrow?
Price War: One other factor that has worked and is still working for Rite Foods product is in the company’s ability to think for Nigerians and make its products pocket friendly. Rite Foods launched with different flavours of already existing carbonated soft drinks and the market entry strategy was simple, more quantity for less price. At a time where most 50cl and 60cl carbonated drinks sold for N150, they sold for N100. Today, Bigi CSDs are one of the cheapest in the country especially with the size of its bottle. It indeed offers more for less.
Proudly Nigerian for Nigerians: Rite Foods is one of the few indigenous companies slugging it out with multinationals and doing it better than them. In the words of Boluwatife Adedugbe, Assistant Marketing Manager, Rites Food, “when we had to come shoulder to shoulder with multinationals, we had to come a thousand and one percent better than whatever it is they are doing and that is what we do at Rite Foods”. She further revealed that Rite Foods is a family friendly brand that offers what every individual needs irrespective of your age or social class. We are a brand that has emotional link with all our customers. If you are 12, 45 or 60, we have a product for you, she concluded.
While pointing to the fact that Rite Foods was intentional about its “Nigerianess”, the MD, Mr. Seleem revealed that the only “disadvantage” many people thought the Bigi drinks bottles had was the Nigerian flag on it because it would be perceived to be substandard but today, the bottle has left the shores of the country to other West African countries. Apart from the aforementioned, it is also worthy of note that a company of such track record has more of Nigerians and fewer expatriates working in its factory. In most factories in the country, there are always more expatriates working in the technical areas of the company while Nigerians take menial jobs. But for Rite Foods, it is not so. 98 percent of the staff are Nigerians who understand what excellence is and are working tirelessly day and night to uphold the image of the country through a proudly Nigerian company.
