A Kenyan baking company, Broadways Bakery, has decried the difficult business environment brought about by the high cost of production.
The Company’s Head of Business Development and Marketing, Devan Shah, said the business environment is getting harder each day due to the high cost of wheat flour, fuel and electricity.
He said they have been forced to improve on efficiency in operations, so as not pass the costs to their customers.
“The last two years post Covid-19 have been difficult. Global wheat prices are high, fuel prices have been erratic and electricity charges have been going-up. However, we understand that bread is a staple product and have ensured we don’t pass the costs to our customer. Instead, we look for other ways of reducing cost of production,” said Shah.
He was speaking during a Company meeting in Thika, where together with their sister company Bakex, were awarded the Super-brands seal for being exemplary brands in the market.
Broadways and Bakex have been in the market for 65 years and 40 years respectively.
Broadways Group Chief Executive (CEO), Francis Musila, said they are embarking on a project to increase bread lines, so as to reach more customers.
He said they have invested in a new State-of-the-art plant, to increase the production capacity of bread, adding that their bread has been doing well in the markets.
“Our customer base is high and over the years, we have been unable to meet the demand, as we can only produce what we can. However, this year, we have established a new plant to increase our production. We are also on a project to increase our breadlines grow our customer base,” said Musila,
On the high cost of production, he called on the government to move away from fuel generated electricity to hydro or geothermal power, so as to reduce power costs.
“I see no reason why we should be using more fuel based power, which is leading to the increase in cost of electricity,” he said.
Rohin Shah, a Director at Bakex Company said they are working on improving technology and efficiency in their operations so as to cut costs.
By Muoki Charles
