On Saturday, November 19, 2022, Brownites hosted the launching of a new food stand, Quick Bite which was designed to cater for the cravings of foodies. Although slated for 5pm, the event began about one hour behind schedule.
The owner of the brand, Elijah Newman, joined the fleet of food entrepreneurs who have sprung from the MBBS 2K18 Class. Quick Bite however differentiates itself from most of the other brands in the fact that it has a physical stand at a strategic spot in the hall.
The publicity for the launch reached far and wide giving Brownites a lot of expectations. In addition to this, a brand has so far been enjoying monopoly in the hall and many Brownites believe it’s time for a change. Ezinne, a 2K17 MBBS student, believes Brownites will benefit from the new development. “I think this is a welcome change actually, because it now brings competition which is good for Brownites,” she said.
The impact of the publicity that trailed the launch also didn’t go unnoticed as it attracted Brownites and non-Brownites alike. According to Yusuf, a 500 level MBBS student, “The publicity was quite good even though I didn’t expect this many people on the opening day. This is quite a number of people”. Dr Opeyemi, a non-Brownite who also came around for the launch also gave credit to the packaging and the strategies to attract public. He said, “The smell is attractive to people and they had nice publicity too. It’s attractive to a lot of customers.”
However, in what would we be a precedent to a bigger setback, there was more to be desired as the numbers of Brownites that trooped in massively overwhelmed the hands on ground to attend to their orders. This made Brownites wait for a long period than expected but a number of them who spoke to ABH Press forgave the inadequacy because it was the first day Quick Bite is opened. “I ordered my food and it’s been more than an hour now, yet, it’s not ready. But then, I understand that it’s their first day and it is expected that a lot of people bombard the place so I understand it will take them a while to get a hang to properly process stuff faster so that everybody is satisfied,” one said.
The lapses were subsequently addressed by the Quick Bite team on Sunday, 20th November, 2022, in an official statement circulated via WhatsApp that craved the indulgence of Brownites as they took time off to address the situation. A survey form to collect feedback from Brownites was attached to the official statement announcing the temporary suspension of activities.
At the point of writing this report, several attempts at reaching Mr Newman Elijah on the development proved abortive but ABH Press was able to reach Mr Leke Fafure, who is a member of the team. He gave assurance that the food stand will be reopened on Monday, the following day.
True to his words, the stand was opened. However, a broadcast message from Alexander Brown Hall Executives was later circulated on WhatsApp informing Brownites that activities would be suspended till further notice. The broadcast message reads in part: “The new vendor ‘Quickbite’ will not be selling till further notice. This is due to some issues with the Hall Management”.
While the Hall Executives gave assurance to “get them up and running as soon as possible”, the Social and Buttery Minister, Ebun Adedeji, declined to give clarification on the issue, when contacted. The acting Hall Chairperson, Zainab Akinteye, also refused to comment. Efforts to reach members of the Quick Bite team also proved abortive at the point of gathering this report.