LAGOS Big Girl, TINUKE AYELOWO Tells City People
If you were meeting Tinuke Ayelowo for the first time, you would never have guessed the line of business she is involved in. She is a very beautiful woman with a really lovely figure. And she knows how to dress well and flaunt her very attractive looking figure. She is highly fashionable. Many regard her as a fashionista. She wears the most exotic dresses and always looks glamorous. This is why many are often shocked when they find out that she is into food business, and not the upscale food business but the local Amala and gbegiri food business!
Tinuke was formerly into the Skin care business before she decided to heed her late mother’s advice by going into the food business. And she has never regretted that singular action, it has turned out to be the best business move she has ever made. Her Gbegiri Palace on Allen Avenue is one of the most popular food joints in that axis. All the big upwardly mobile boys and big babes throng Tinuke’s Gbegiri Palace daily to enjoy the different delicacies with local flavour that Tinuke serves.
On Sunday 7th May, 2023 at the 2023 City People Female Achievers Awards, Tinuke was honoured for her impressive contributions to the catering industry. She spoke with City People’s Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) about her exploits into the food business and how she was inspired by her late mother. Below are excerpts..
Let us begin by congratulating you on this recognition award given to you by City People, share with us your feelings at this time, how do you feel about this?
I feel so happy today. Truth is I have been looking forward to getting a recognition like this and now that it has come, we give God the glory.
You were originally into the business of skin care, making women look beautiful, and then suddenly, you made a switch for catering and Amala happens to be your selling point, how were you able to make such a big leap from skin care to Amala buiness?
In my late mum’s family, food business, catering is like a family business. It’s their stronghold when it comes to business and they have really made a success of it. I lived with my grandma, later went back to my mum, and learnt a great deal under them. So, when I got to Lagos, mum was like Tinu, I want you to go into the food business. And because of my skin care business, my passion for looking good all the time and I was always travelling out of the country, I was like, mummy, how can I be doing food business? I told her its your own family business, I don’t need it. So, I continued to focus and invest more into my skin care business and managed to cope with all it’s challenges. But my mum would always tell me, Tinu, ise ounje ni mo fe ko se (I want you to go into the food business).
So, I lost my mum sometime ago. Shortly after we buried her, I said to myself, this woman has been telling me to do this food business, let me give it a shot because I am really extremely good at cooking. Sincerely, I don’t think any woman can defeat me when it comes to cooking. I was very confident that I would do very well in it so I just switched. Many people were surprised. They were like, Tinu, you that love fashion so much, how can you suddenly go into food business/ But I said to them, don’t worry. So, I started it all by myself. I got a shop. I am presently using a space for like ten shops on Allen Avenue. I started with three but later acquired more and its now ten. Everyubody was like, so this posh babe will now be cooking, right? Lets see what she will put on the table. And I did my strictly local delicacies. I use palm oil, thas epo pupa in Yoruba, I use Iru to give it that local taste and everybody started coming. So, right now, you have to be at Gbegiri Palace, if you have not been there, then you have not tasted local dish o!
So, the name of your food joint is Gbegiri Palace?
Yes o, Gbegiri Palace on Allen Avenue.
So, tell us, when you started at first, did everything just click for you or there were some challenges you encountered?
Okay, let me just say a bit about that. On the day we started selling to customers, we did not actually plan to do so. We had started planning, the whole shop was well arranged. We were properly set up and were just waiting for workers to resume work. But that day, I just said let’s open the shop and do like a test run, the next thing I just saw some people trooping in, asking, do you have Amala? They kept coming to ask. I had no choice. I just dashed into the kitchen and started cooking without waiting for my workers. And that was how I started. Never planed to start the day I started. I just wanted to see if we were set for business, check our cooking materials, and the moment I rolled up our roller shutter, people just started trooping in, parking their cars and asking, is there Amala? Do you guys sell Amala? And to God be the glory, we are still doing the business and we have done very well.
Apart from Amala, what are your other delicacies?
Amala, Gbegiri, Ewedu, pounded yam, efo riro, EgusiTuwo, ofada rice, ewa agoin, jollof rice, fried rice, everything. We do the village rice too using palm oil with iru and efinrin, mixed with your rice and panla, like a concoction. They call it village rice.
So, how has it been with competition so far? Although, from what I can see, you are doing very well with competition.
Well, there are three of us in that building, it’s a plaza. Truthfully, I don’t see competition. I just do my own thing. I don’t compete. Anything that comes to my pocket is okay by me, I do not need to compete with anyone. I give God all the glory.
It’s been how many years that you started Gbegiri Palace?
It’s been two years now that we started.
And if you were to describe the two years that you started, how would you describe it?
It’s been fun. I love every bit of it. I love the stress and I’m enjoying the money too.
It appears you’re coping well with the stress?
Yes, its true it has lots of stress but if you’re good at what you’re doing, you will enjoy it.No doubt about it, the stress is much, but never mind that, simply focus on what you’re doing. If you’re good at what you’re doing, you will enjoy it.
How do people react when they see you looking glamorous and all posh like someone who just returned from a vacation in Dubai or US cooking and selling Amala?
When I see people like that I hardly talk, but I always believe my food will speak for me. Most times, when people come in here frowning, wondering whether they will like the food or if it will be delicious, I am always like, you should just have a taste. Some will say please, give me just two wraps of pounded yam and let me see how it tastes, but at the end of the day, they end up taking four or more wraps. Then, when they are going they will be like, wow, madam, you gave me that olden days taste that I used to love very much. Some will say you reminded me of my mum’s cooking.And others will say your food tastes exactly like my grandma’s food.
Looking back, what part of you would you say you picked up from your mum?
Its that cooking aspect, I learnt everything from her. As the last child, I was always with her. There is nothing she cooked that I cannot cook. She was conffident about my cxooking ability. She was a very pretty woman. She was prettier than me. She was former Miss Kwara in those days. There was no Miss Nigeria back then in her time, what they had was inter state beauty pageants. She was a beautiful woman that knew how to cook. I miss her a lot, she was a wonderful woman.
So, you have completely dropped skin care business for food business now?
I still do my skin care at home o, I still have my office inside my house because I still want to keep my customers. A lot of them still insist it must be you, Lulu, because they call me Lulu Skin care. I love money o, and I cannot suffer.
Considering how fast Gbegiri Palace has stepped up, what should we expect from you in the next couple of years?
In the next few months from now, we are even starting a lounge because most of my customers are always saying, with this big space you have here, you should have a lounge. In fact, some of them have offered to support and encouraged me to start the lounge. So, in a few months from now, we will start.
What will the lounge offer?
It will be a place where you can come in and chill, drink, take your brandy or beer with Isiewu or pepper soup. It’s basically somewhere you can cool off.
So, what’s your advice to young ladies who are ignoring the food business?
My brother, my advice to all ladies out there is that you have to know what you’re doing. Your handiwork pays. There is no man out there that wants a liability. Whether you’re married or not, you have to work. It pays when you have something doing, that way, you will be able to support your husband when he’s broke. I love money o, I can’t afford to suffer.
