CAMEROON: Entrepreneur, Idris Nguepnang owns a chain of popular restaurants that have brought traditional dishes and drinks to an urban fast food market

Record ID: 495534

  • Title: CAMEROON: Entrepreneur, Idris Nguepnang owns a chain of popular restaurants that have brought traditional dishes and drinks to an urban fast food market
  • Date: 16th May 2012
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF CHILDREN EATING BURGERS IN THE RESTAURANT
  • Embargoed: 31st May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cameroon
  • Country: Cameroon
  • Topics: Business,Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVAC2QZS16KRBB6L4U7E24NNMQG2
  • Story Text: SLATE INFORMATION

    Roadside food shacks are a common and popular feature in many African cities -- serving local delicacies in a simple environment and at a friendly price.
    In Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, young entrepreneur Idris Nguepnang had an idea to take the country's traditionally authentic recipes to the fast food counter.
    Nguepnang owns two restaurants -- Tchop et Yamo or Eat and Enjoy, which specialise in the popular local dish "beignets-haricots" (doughnut and beans), as well as a drink made of dried sorrel flowers, known as Djara juice.
    He says his goal was to provide the usual food fare of burgers and french fries alongside more local dishes.
    "It's first and foremost a gastronomical concept, it's a projected that is inspired by ordinary fast food restaurants like the ones seen in the West, but firmly anchored in our local culinary dishes, which have been around for years, with the menu mainly featuring the local traditional dish of doughnuts and boiled beans," he said.
    Nguepnang started his business with money he made while working for a European firm.
    He said he wanted to open his first restaurant in his native Cameroon where he could also create jobs.
    "It's a project that I conceived and work on for a while. At the beginning, I wanted to start this project in Brussels or in any European city, but how do you sell a project, a product to stranger, when the product has not been objectively validated by the country or the country where I am from," he said.
    Nguepnang's restaurants have modern decor and ample seating spaces as well as Wi-Fi. He says these are services that would not be found in road-side restaurants which often have great food but not much invested in the set up and the ambience.
    "We eat well here, the food is great and we have the opportunity to eat something that we may not be able to access somewhere else such as the doughnut and beans as you can see, and the added value is that we can work as we eat, and also access the internet," said Josephine, a customer.
    Serge Njike is a junior manager at the restaurant, and along with other staff members is encouraged to pursue an education and training alongside his job.
    "For me, it was an opportunity to be able to grow with the project, to be part of the people who contributed to the success of the projects," he said.
    Nguepnang says the next step is to open branches of his restaurant in other parts of Africa, as well Europe and put the doughnut and bean dish on the world's gastronomy map.
    "Beyond our region, Ghana is a country that we are interested in, Mozambique and Tanzania are also countries that we are looking at, but everything in its own time," he added.
    He says his restaurants are targeted at families but also young people looking for a place to hang out and enjoy a taste of the traditional.
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