The new threat to Kenyan hotels

The long queues in supermarkets are these days a result of customers buying cooked food, from chapati to rice.

A visit to Tuskys, Naivas or Uchumi leaves no doubt that food is the new cash cow. Hotels in Kenya fear terrorism, which brought down tourist numbers and incomes. They now have another threat — supermarkets.

Supermarkets’ cooked food attracts hordes of mostly young consumers. In one supermarket, there are queues as early as 10am.

What is going on? We cook the foodstuff we buy from the supermarket, so why not have it cooked for us to save time?

Young men and women are more conscious of time and want to save it, either because they work late or want to relax after hustling. Cooking is not an easy job.

Characteristic of modernity

They may have figured out that the work they do instead of cooking is more valuable. Think of the hassle of chopping cabbages, cutting meat, peeling viazi, waiting for them to cook while hungry, and finally washing dishes. Valuing time is a characteristic of modernity.

You also have to worry about storage and wastage. In the long run, eating cooked food may be cheaper. Have consumers figured this out?

It is no wonder the popularity of food in supermarkets is going hand in hand with the rise in fast food outlets. You can now have food delivered to your house. That is why we need physical addresses, like 75 Shamakhokho Street.

Others think we are too lazy to cook, and the art of cooking is dying. How many youngsters can cook muthokoi, mukimo, brown ugali or injera?

Some argue that cooked food in supermarkets is ‘completing’ the outlets. A visit to Western supermarkets shows our retailers are behind. In places like Walmart, you can even repair your car and sort out your financial issues. Luckily, many supermarkets are now banking agents. Who said Kenya is not modernising?

Supermarkets are behind petrol stations, which realised that as a car ‘drinks’ fuel, its owner can also drink juice, water or buy snacks.

One Nairobian who requested anonymity said the popularity of food in supermarkets is driven by the low-quality of food in other outlets. Supermarkets will guarantee quality because of their brand and quality controls, he said. Proximity to work places and low prices are other attractions.

But economics also supports the shift to food. Its elasticity is low, meaning that a rise in prices rarely makes us eat less. Low elasticity ensures the supermarkets have a steady stream of income.

This might explain why lots of hotels are coming up in Nairobi and in the counties. Food is a necessity; and most alcoholic drinks are addictive and, therefore, inelastic.

We could argue from a financial perspective that selling cooked food is a diversification strategy for supermarkets. Cooked food also shortens the supply chain and brings in quick money. Most malls have food courts and are ahead of supermarkets.

The focus on food by supermarkets and malls rhymes with basic human needs — we must eat, and if you can make money by letting us do what we must do, the better. Who thought that one day local governments would make money from toilets? Noted the proliferation of funeral homes?

Have you also noted how investors in other sectors are getting into hospitality, which allows you to make money continuously? We eat and sleep every day. If you can figure out what a human needs every day, you are in the money. The record profits from Safaricom are because we communicate every day. Communications Authority data shows we spend an average of 89 minutes a month talking on our phones.

Urban phenomenon

As the Kenyan economy matures, we will become more health and time conscious; food will shift from being a basic need to a status symbol. What you eat and where you eat matter.

In rural areas, cooking is still the norm. Buying cooked food is an urban phenomenon.

The threat to hotels is not universal; well-established hotels might not worry about supermarkets offering cooked food. The kiosks and small-time hotels may have cause to worry. But perhaps this competition will improve the quality of food and services.

Food is inseparable from civilisation, from hunting to the space age, we must eat. Without much innovation in food, the focus shifts to delivery, packaging, preparing (boiling or grilling), and location.

It is no wonder food security is taken so seriously in most countries that farmers are given subsidies to continue producing.

Next time you find Kenyans queuing for cooked food in the supermarket, it might make economic sense to join them instead of carrying sukuma wiki, unga, matumbo and other ingredients for 20 kilometres to cook them. Why not carry food in your stomach?

The writer is senior lecturer, University of Nairobi.

[email protected]