Peter Eze has not only attracted commuter motor cycle riders; a.k.a Okada riders to his shop but has succeeded in retaining most of them for over five years. Eze who runs a food vending shop named God’s Will Restaurant, at number 44, Eluku Street, Itupate, Ikorodu services more than one hundred customers each day of the week. Over seventy percent of his patrons are commuter motor cycle riders in the Sabo area of Ikorodu town.
Speaking with our correspondent, Lateef Adeleke who has been patronizing the food vendor for over 3 years now, said he enjoys every bit of the food being served in the eating place. Adeleke expressed satisfaction in the taste and affordability of the food served in God’s Will restaurant. According to him, every morning is an opportunity to savour the flavour of the place and he eats most of his three daily course meal there.
Another regular customer at the eating place, Emeka Israel, who has been patronizing Peter’s place for six years now, explained that he loves eating at the God’s Will because the food is affordable.
According to him, he gets sumptuous bouquet for every plate of food he buys. The main attraction for him is the pepper soup served with fufu which cost only three hundred naira. The pepper soup is made of assorted goat meat and chicken served in a separate plate from the main course meal.
Mudashiru Olasubomi, who is in his 70s, attested that he has been eating at God’s Will for the past five years, and that he still patronizes the place after he moved to his new apartment sometimes last year. Olasubomi explained that the food is not only good but Peter’s attitude towards his customers is very encouraging.
Peter, who is a J.S.S 2 (Junior Secondary School) dropout, has been running the restaurant since 2011 and has retained over ninety percent of his customers in the past seven years. When asked how he managed to attract lots of commuter motor cyclists for years, Peter said that it is a phenomenon he can’t explain. “I just noticed that many of the Okada riders enjoy eating in my restaurant, but I couldn’t fathom why,” he narrated. Peter admitted to making profit of five thousand naira on average per day. “Though, this may fluctuate due to the irregular price of food ingredients in market at times” he added.
Though, Peter has another eating place within Ikorodu, he look forward to starting another business in the nearest future. He may venture into selling of raw food stuff when he saves up enough from the current business. Peter plan to hand the eating place over to someone else whenever the new business kick starts.
In as much as many enjoy his food, they have some reservations. Most of the regulars said they would like Peter to procure generator and chiller to enable them enjoy cold drinks and get blown by fan. Peter responded that he currently has a generator except that the generator cannot power the standing fan. He pleaded that he has plans to meet the customers’ request by renovating the eating place very soon.
Speaking on the lack of suitable jobs in the society, Peter advised job applicants to start from somewhere, especially by doing menial jobs for others even for as little stipend as ten thousand naira and later start a small business after saving up some money. Peter who was an apprentice in the interior fittings business, narrated his plight when he first started out ten years ago. “When my master ill-treated me and refused to settle me for serving him after many years, I started selling food. Right now, I am doing just fine”, he recounted.