BREAD has established itself as part of man's diet for thousands of years. As a nutritionally valuable, handy, and ready-to-eat food item, it enjoys quite a sizeable level of patronage from the majority of the people both rich and poor, irrespective of where they live-urban, semi-urban or rural areas. When compared with other close substitutes, the price of bread is considered reasonably within the reach of many Nigerians. It can be eaten any time and anywhere without being subjected to further preparation. It also enjoys the distinctive advantage of being applicable to a variety of eating and preparation processes for the daily family breakfast, ease of transportation and cheapness in price per loaf.Bread is one of the most patronized items on the shelves because of its delicacy, the relative ease with which it is served and its affordability. With children and even most adults, bread is a daily must-eat in one form or the other. Some slices taken by children returning from school or workers coming back from their daily routine before the meal is fixed help to placate the rebellious active enzymes threatening a showdown with their host.Nutritionally speaking, there are essentially three types of bread one commonly finds in the market around here today. The first is the white one, which is the most common bread. It contains mainly flour and other basic ingredients used in bread baking. Because of this, it is the cheapest vis-a-vis other bread types and is churned out by the majority of bakers nationwide. Although this type is delicious and sugary in content, it scarcely contains many nutrients.The second type of bread is the nutritious wheat bread. Made from 100% wheat, this has its niche market. It is not the toast of the masses in terms of affordability and taste. Consequently, the quantity baked per time is limited compared with the other types.The third type of bread is what people generally refer to as the rich bread because of the ingredients like eggs, milk, nutmegs and other nutrients and flavour that it contains.The above three categories are not the only bread that a bakery churns out. Other products include buns, cakes of various types and uses, other types of bread than the rectangular, chin chin, doughnuts, meat and fish pies etc.Market PotentialsBread is one of the main staple foods in the country today; for most people, it is the main food. It is no exaggeration to say that more than 50% of the population must eat a bread product everyday in one form or the other. For bakers, there is never a period of low demand for bread'everyday is Christmas. This demand cuts across all social, economic and religious leanings.The high demand for bread is dictated by such factors as the increasing population, the dynamic change in the eating habits of the people, increasing urbanisation of communities, the cheapness of bread price compared with other staple foods or substitutes, the convenience factor that bread, being a ready-to-eat food item, offers travellers, workers, households, offices etc something to lay hand on quickly at the time of food need. Others are the increasing nutritional awareness of the need to consume good quality and delicious bread products, the proliferation of fast foods service centres, etc.Bread, being a whole food, can be served alone, but its nutritive value is enhanced when served with butter, margarine, sardine, jam or marmalade. The last is getting very popular and preferred and with greater availability, popularity and marketing efficiency, they could upstage the others.Generally bakeries serve their immediate localities even though there are also opportunities to extend to markets far from these locations. Proper location and market studies have to be done before starting a bakery. Doing these very well is one of the high points of success in this and indeed any business.Raw Materials And SuppliesNo matter the type of bread one contemplates to bake, there are some basic and inevitable inputs. These include flour, granulated sugar, dry yeast, butter, bread improvers, flavourings, vegetable oil, cooking salt, water, mould inhibitors and preservatives. Others could include egg, milk, chicken, currants or mixed fruits, vitamins etc. Bakers have been prohibited from the use of potassium bromate and potassium bromide because of their potentially carcinogenic tendencies and injury to kidney, eyes, liver etc. Thanks to NAFDAC.Other supplies needed are the nicely designed labels or nylon wrappings of appropriate sizes bearing the name of the bakery, its address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail etc.All the above materials and supplies are obtained from the sellers in our local markets. Flour can be arranged from the nearest of the numerous mills around the country.Plant And MachineryBasically, to start a bakery, no matter the scale, an investor needs an oven, dough mixer, milling machine, dough cutter, weighing scales, baking pans and other accessories like wheelbarrows, knives etc. Big bakeries, as of necessity, include slicing machine(s). A standby generating set should be included.The scale of operation to be embarked upon will be dictated by the availability of funds. This determines whether one's bread will be baked with electric, gas, kerosine or mud oven the price of which differs. A modern bakery that utilises the latest equipment and accessories is costly to establish but nevertheless offers a lot of production advantages. The writer will furnish any interested serious investor with the sources and costs of the various equipment, if requested.The above observation notwithstanding, it is still quite feasible and viable for any seriously interested investor with modest means to make a fortune from bakery business by using the locally fabricated machinery and equipment. These are cheaper than their imported counterparts. With them it is now more convenient and easier to establish bakeries in any part of the country. Besides, spare parts availability and quick response to service and maintenance needs of the equipment in the event of breakdown are ensured and cheap too.In the rural areas where there is no electricity supply clay oven with steel door can be installed and used. In this case, charcoal and/or firewood is used to heat the oven chamber. My latest findings show that the majority of the bakeries in this country use this type of oven. The bigger ones with bigger financial muscle go for the electric ovens.Bread Baking ProcessesBriefly, these involve the weighing out of the relevant inputs in pre-determined, designed proportions, mixing these thoroughly to form a homogenous dough, milling this, cutting it into desired bread sizes, placing them in oiled bread pans (where bread is allowed to rise), baking them in the oven for the required period of time, removal from the oven when done, slicing (where necessary), wrapping, packing and storing them ready for sale.LabourOn a small scale, six or more employees are needed for a start to handle the above activities. They will increase if shifts are worked as business expands. The higher scales need more staff.FinancialsMy recent investigation revealed that one can conveniently and economically establish a moderate conventional bakery in a hired bungalow with the sum of between N900,000 and N2,000,000. This does not include the cost of a motor vehicle that may be needed to bring in raw materials and deliver finished products. One can start on a cottage level, plough back his profits into the business to expand it and then embark on bigger capacity modern bakery. However, there are standard modern bakeries that can produce 1,000-2,000 500g loaves per hour with a proportionately similar profit scenario. You will key in where you and your finances fit. Establishing a bakery of this size now is a good business as it is possible to generate in the first year of the operation a sales volume of N9,450,000. When the production and marketing costs of N4,793,500 are deducted, the baker is left with the profit before tax of N4,656,500, a neat return on sales of 49.2%.The investment costs, sales and profits on a cottage, small and medium bakery scale look like these:Year One FiguresTotal costSalesProfitReturnNNN on salesCottage bakery600,0003,087,8751,349,014 34.7%Small scale1,500,0004,080,7501,980,168 48.5%Medium scale5,750,0009,450,0004,756,500 50.3%ConclusionIf you are an investor looking for a money-spinning, food-based project that can be established anywhere in the urban or rural areas of the country, a business that daily gives you high profit, one that has simple tested and available technology and whose raw materials and equipment are locally available and a project that has high daily aggregate demand and high production efficiency, then bread baking is it. It is a veritable fast route to making money. It is a cash cow, a goldmine whose exploitation time has come. Apart from the banking sub-sector, one of the hottest other sub-sectors in the stock exchange is agreeably food/beverages, to which bread baking belongs.To determine the financial details of what it takes to establish this project of any size, a prospective investor is advised to approach an experienced industrial development consultant for guidance in the areas of sources, types, costs, and installation of the relevant equipment to be used, comprehensive and bankable feasibility study and report preparation and other areas of project implementation.For further information and assistance, serious investors should please contact Mr. DON ABRAHAM on (0812-478-3187 ; 0803-725-1974 ; 0704-149-5314,E-mail:wealthcreationideas@yahoo.com
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