Food vendors lament over low patronage ahead of Ramadan

As Muslims continue to observe Ramadan, food vendors in Kubwa, a suburb in the FCT, are complaining of low patronage.

Newsmen, who spoke with some food vendors, was told that sales continued to drop as the Ramadan progressed.

Mrs. Sarah Ajayi, who owns a restaurant at Byazhin Across, Kubwa area of Abuja, said the impact of the Ramadan period on her business was enormous.

“I do not sell much when Ramadan is on. I prepare quarter of what I normally prepare in a normal period.

“When it is time to break their fast, some of them wouldn’t come here instead they prefer to go home to break their fast with their family members,” she said.

Mrs Ijeoma Samuel, another restaurant owner at Ijayapi, said sales was always low during Ramadan.

“We don’t actually make sales the way we always do when it is not fasting period.

“If we had 50 people patronise us on a normal day, during Ramadan, we have less than 20.

“The painful thing is that, this will go on for a whole month. It’s always a great loss for the business because we only prepare half of what we prepare on normal days,’’ she said.

For Madam Grace Okechukwu of Queens’s restaurant, her major patronage comes from labourers who are mainly Muslims.

“My main customers are Muslim labourers and they eat a lot. But while they are fasting, I cook my food in small quantities so that it’s not wasted.

“Some of them patronise me when they break their fast in the evenings but they will only buy small quantity of food,” she said.

The story was same with Mr Dickson Onyebuchi a bar/restaurant owner.

According to him, Ramadan period is not always a profitable period for my business because most of my customers don’t come to patronise.

“Business is always dull during the Ramadan and it is a major challenge we always have to cope with,” he said.

Mrs Aderemi Oluwakemi, owner of a Bukateria, said she had been in the food business for more than 10 years and the Ramadan period had always had negative impact on her business.

“Every Ramadan always have negative impact on my business due to low sales and patronage.

“I sell more than six Mudus of rice before the fasting period and gain more than thirty thousand naira.

“But since the fasting is on I only sell two Mudus of rice and earn much less,” she said.