How to Start a Potato Chips Business in Kenya
Potato chips (fries) is one of the fast foods in high demand and especially between women and children. This makes the chips business in Kenya a lucrative venture. You do not need a lot of capital to get started. However, you need to know how to prepare chips. The business is viable in most parts of the country, both rural and urban areas. If you are planning to start a potato chips business, this is what you need to do.
Carryout a Market Research
It is best that you first do a market research to understand the market. A market research will help you determine if the business is viable and identify a good business location and where to source potatoes at a cheaper price. It will make your work easier when writing a business plan.
Write a Potato Chips Business Plan
The other thing that you need to do is to write a business plan. Your business plan should capture the following:
- Business name
- Business startup capital
- Business location
- Sources of startup capital
- Requirements for starting a chips business
If you carried out a market research, it will be easy to write a business plan. If you don’t know who to write one, you can hire an expert.
Identify a Good Business Location
A business location is crucial for the success of any business. As such, you need to find a good location where you can get customers. A chips business is best suited for areas with a large youthful population.
It would be best if you can find a location near an institution like a college or a banking hall. It is because you can target students and workers as your customers. To start a chips mwitu business, you can look for a kiosk or a container.
Get a Business Permit and License
You need to secure a business permits to ensure that your business . You need a single business permit, food and health certificate and fire and safety certificate to run a chips business in Kenya.
A single business permit is compulsory for all businesses while the food and health certificate is a necessity for all businesses dealing with food. Since your business will be using heat, you need to get a fire safety certificate to ensure compliance with fire safety measures.
Brand Your Chips Business
You need to partition and brand your chips kiosk business so that you have a private place to prepare chips and where your customers can sit.
If you are just starting, and you have limited capital, you can start in a small kiosk and move to a bigger room as your customers increase.
How to Prepare Chips
Chips are easy to prepare and if you are starting a chips mwitu business, then you only need some experience to get started.
However, if you are looking to start a fast food restaurant, then you need to consider getting some culinary training.
- Peel potatoes. The first process is usually to peel potatoes. You can do it manually if you do not have a potatoes peeling machine.
- The next thing is usually to slice potatoes into the required sizes. It is best that you get a slicing machine, otherwise it will take you long to peel them manually.
- Then dry the sliced potatoes using a dryer machine.
- Deep fry the sliced potatoes using a deep fryer.
- Then flavor the the chips with spices and flavors like masala.
- Finally, serve the chips to the customers. Provide the customers with tomato sauce and chili.
Cost of Starting Chips Mwitu Business in Kenya
The cost of starting a chips business depends with the size of your business. For instance, if you are starting a chips mwitu business, you need around Ksh 30,000. The following is a capital breakdown for a chips mwitu business.
- Electric deep fryer (double) – Ksh 10,000
- Potato chipper – Ksh 2,000
- One sack of potatoes – Ksh 3,500
- Rent – Ksh 5,000
- Utensils – Ksh 3,000
- Tomato sauce – Ksh 1,000
- Business licenses – Ksh 7,000 every year
What You Need to Start a Chips Business
If you are looking to start a medium sized chips business, you need at least Ksh 250,000. Luckily, you can prepare other meals like chicken, burgers and sausages. You need the following items:
- Electric deep fryer
- Chips dryer machine
- Potato slicing machine
- Potato peeling machine
Summary of How to Start a Potato Chips Business in Kenya
Starting a chips business in Kenya is a profitable venture. It is a trending business due to the high demand for chips and especially chips mwitu. People working in offices need fast food like chips. You can look for orders to deliver chips to offices. Alternatively, you can start a small chips mwitu business and grow your business to a large business.
