Kano’s N30 restaurant, a once-popular and talk of the town eatery has shut down services due to the rising cost of foodstuffs and other commodities.
The restaurant came into the limelight last year following the reactions that greeted the outburst of the Minister of Agriculture, Sabo Nanono, who was reported to have said that, “with as little as N30,” one could get a “decent” meal in Kano.
To support the minister’s assertion, a resident of Kano, Haruna Engineer decided to establish the restaurant where a plate of food sells for N30 and it became a hot spot. Among the delicacies sold then were rice, beans and garri.
Last week, Chronicle revisited Haruna’s restaurant at Layin Kuka, Sani Mai-nagge area in the state metropolis only to find it under lock and key.
Speaking with our correspondent Haruna, who has since returned to his former business of repairing electronics, said he was forced to close the restaurant because of the rise in the prices of foodstuffs.
“The continuous running of the restaurant is no longer feasible because of the astronomical rise in cost of foodstuffs.
“The situation has changed because a measure of garri that we used to buy at N200 is now N600, a measure of rice that used to be N400 now is N1,300 and the cost of vegetables has also gone up. The business was established to support the poor and vulnerable ones but that is not possible anymore,” he said.
“I’m calling on the president to take a look at the situation, the poor and the downtrodden who are finding it very difficult to feed themselves at the moment,” he added.
Haruna said the situation was further worsened by the lockdown following COVID-19 pandemic which made things more difficult.
“We managed to continue the business at that amount for almost five months but as soon as the lockdown set in, we found it very difficult to operate and later closed down the restaurant.
“My customers were disappointed seeing the place closed. I had to pacify them to take heart.’’
Haruna said he engaged 11 women as cooks and another five as stewards but he had sacked all of them.
“It was a joyful thing. We have proved then it was possible with just N3000, one hundred people could be fed. When we started we were cooking a bag of rice and garri, which rose to two bags before the lockdown.’’
Haruna recalled that the idea to start the restaurant was conceived by his wife.
“The whole thing started like a joke as we discussed the minister’s pronouncement with my wife. She insisted the minister was right. I did not believe until I tried it out.
“We started with a capital of N450 which we bought a measure of garri at N25, vegetable oil N50 and groundnut cake ( Kuli Kuli) N100, ginger N20, seasoning N20 and salt N10 making a total of N450. After selling we realised N700 making a gain of N250. We later introduced rice and beans,” he added.
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