Encomium
Beautiful Shola Adewumi is not only the daughter of Globacom top shot, Niyi Adewumi, but also a passionate business woman with requisite skills for excellence.
The serial entrepreneur opened a multi-million naira posh eatery Grubbies – on August 3, 2014, in the high-brow area of Lekki phase 1, Lagos, which has drawn commendation from all.
In this exclusive chat with ENCOMIUM Weekly’s Michael Nwokike, the beauty plus brains American returnee talked about her new venture, what makes it unique, her dreams, love life and more…
Do accept our congratulations! Can you express your emotions in words at the success of the launch of Grubbies?
I’m happy, I give God the glory. I’m grateful for a wonderful new business venture. It’s been a couple of days since the wonderful opening and God has been faithful. Family and friends have been supporting, also clients and customers have been coming in and expressing their pleasure with the place – the interior, the food, the quality and the variety of the drinks and food, even the atmosphere.
It’s been such a great blessing and a lot of love, it’s beyond my expectation!
Tell us about the experience setting up this multi-million naira eatery?
I actually set Grubbies up in a couple of months, though I had been thinking about the idea for a while. It’s been my passion for a very long time. If you didn’t know, I used to run Touch of Glamour beauty salon and I had that for eight years. While I was doing that, I had in my mind I was going to run an eatery another business. Sometime last year I decided I was going to embark on this business venture, I started looking for a suitable location. I was looking at somewhere in Marina, but eventually, I got somewhere here in Lekki, which I love anyway. I got it sometime in Easter and opened up on third of August, which is about five months in between. But because of my experience with Touch of Glamour and other businesses I have been able to manage, I was able to put everything in place – from the interior, the outlook of the place and even the kitchen at the back, to the administrative side. I was able to put everything in proper perspective within a short time because of the experience I already had, though with little help from professionals but it wasn’t easy. It was actually overwhelming, and still is. But honestly, because it’s such a passion of mine and because I give a 150 percent into everything, I am enjoying every bit of it, I wouldn’t complain. Though you might see me pull my hair every now and then, but it’s all in a quest for perfection for myself and for people that eat the food.
What’s the inspiration behind the idea of running an eatery?
The inspiration actually was when I moved back into the country in 2002. I had a lot of friends and we hooked up for lunch at fast food eateries. I was fascinated by the idea that people can come into a nice conducive environment and have great quality food while you also make good money. I believe I have this entrepreneurial spirit inside of me, though I hadn’t started any form of business at the time as I was fresh from college. I started thinking! This is actually not a bad business’. At the end of the day, we are filling people’s tummies and making good money. I liked the whole experience, so I had it at the back of my mind as one of the businesses that I’ll venture into. Eventually this year, it became a reality.
Before now, did you have practical experience in the eatery business?
Like I said, I had Touch of Glamour beauty salon and spa for eight year, I wouldn’t say they are very different in the set up. They are all vocational businesses, and you deal with people on a day to day basis. They are people businesses. Now, instead of beauty, it’s food. So, there are some similarities which gave me background experience to come out with Grubbies.
What’s the unique selling factor of Grubbies?
Of course, we have God. He is our backbone. He orchestrated this whole thing. I believe everybody else does have God, but I can also speak for myself. More specifically, I have this amala feli-feli that’s straight from the iron pot, just like you go to the local eateries and they dish it for you right from the pot. I have found a way to incorporate that in a fine, decent and classy environment. So, while you are having your fast food – your jollof rice, your egusi, your ofada – you have the opportunity of having your amala beside you there being rolled right from the pot. Then you have gbegiri, ewedu and all the assorted stuff on top of it. It’s very rare to find that blend and mixture. That’s one of my selling points. Another one is maintaining the food we give. My slogan says home cooking away from home, I have decided to bring immense quality into the food that we sell to people, the same way I would cook in my house, making it as rich as possible with all the condiments that I want inside. I did not sacrifice on any of that, I’m putting them out here for people to come buy at market prices. That’s what makes us stand out. It’s only a couple of days and people have been coming back. All I’ve been hearing is great food, it tastes lovely, well done. It’s really good because that’s one of the goals of setting this up, to have home cooking away from home.
Business people tend to be very busy. How do you cool off from all the hassle?
That’s interesting. I haven’t had the time. But talking how I relax generally, I listen to music, I love poetry, I love to write poems, I love to hang out with my close-knit friends and family, and just create fun memories together.
How do you strike a balance between family and work to ensure none suffers neglect?
I’m able to strike a balance, because I’m a very family-oriented person. My parents brought us all up that way. So, there’s almost no day that I don’t speak to my siblings and even some close friends that are like my family members. I make sure I create time for everything, I believe there’s time for everything. We have closing hour, when we do close we make arrangements to meet up, especially on weekends. There are sacrifices that you have to make, like when somebody is having an event or something, you have to be there. There are always to make time, as long as they are your priorities and you set them right.
Tell us about yourself. Who is the personality behind Grubbies?
I’m Shola Adewumi. I would say I’m an entrepreneur by blood (laughs). I love business, loving business means I love service. I love serving people, giving them quality service.
Everything I do, I try to do them to the best of my ability, without leaving any stone unturned. I love giving customer service, I love giving people their money’s worth. I love to dance, I love poetry, I love to hang out with my close friends and family, going to the beach, having quality time and creating fun memories. I have a lot of businesses, but what a lot of people know me for is my salon, which I got four accolades and several other nominations for. I ran that for about eight years, contributing socially and economically to the environment. I’m also very passionate about our youth. One thing that drives me is being able to be a driving force for our youths for their betterment. As the saying goes, they are leaders of tomorrow. I have this project called The SONA Project, I go to public schools, secondary schools and talk to male and female students, to influence hem, to impact them. I talk to them on matters and issues that matter to them to become great leaders. These things guide me and have made me who I’ve become.
Tell us about your love life?
I think the only thing I’d like to say about that is I used to be married, but I’m no longer married. I’ve been unmarried for about two years now. It’s the only thing I would like to say about that, nothing else. I’m quite a private person. What is your vision of where Grubbies would be in years to come?
I see Grubbies in God’s hands. I see Grubbies increasing in name, quality and stand the test of time. I’m not necessarily interested in owning a 100 outlets, I’m interested in owning a number of outlets that would serve the same quality food in a nice ambiance and present to people value for their money. In the next couple of years, like I said, I will have a couple of outlets, maybe into franchising, definitely also corporate catering. Because Grubbies is not only an eatery, another major part of it is corporate catering. We’d love to have so many other companies on our list, we already have some. So, that’s also another great aspect. I see Grubbies growing in the next couple of years. The vision is for people to continue to get home cooked meals away from home.
– MICHAEL NWOKIKE
