Mr Bigg's: The birth of Nigeria's iconic takeaway

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 28 July 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

It’s been 50 years since a popular Nigerian fast food chain which later became known as Mr Bigg's was first launched. The restaurants began as coffee shops in department stores in the 1960s and were later rebranded in 1986. Mr Bigg's currently has more than 170 locations in 40 cities around Nigeria, and there were also restaurants in other African nations at one time. Justice Baidoo spoke to Emmanuel Osugo, one of the pioneers of the chain. A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service. (Photo: A Mr Bigg's restaurant. Credit: Adebola Familusi)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and thank you for downloading the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service
0:11.4	with me, Justice Pedro and today I'm taking you back to 1973 when Nigeria launched its
0:18.8	answer to the American fast food giant McDonald's Oh Mr. Biggs was Nigeria, it was a big pride
0:27.4	everybody wanted to go to Mr. Biggs, it was an aspirational brand for all Nigerians.
0:34.3	It's half a century since Nigeria started to give the Americans a run for their money,
0:39.6	by establishing a chain of takeaways and coffee shops which would become iconic in the West
0:44.9	African country. I've traveled to Lagos to meet one of the pioneers of Mr. Biggs, a man who
0:54.0	launched and managed seven restaurants across Nigeria's biggest city in the change heyday.
1:00.4	At the time in my neighborhood I had the nickname Mr. Biggs because I was running around the whole
1:05.2	territory with a very boldly branded Mr. Biggs one so everybody knew me Mr. Biggs Mr. Biggs Mr. Biggs
1:11.5	here and their children adults I still answer Mr. Biggs where I live. Today Immanuel Chuku Osogu is
1:19.4	introducing me to Mr. Biggs restaurant that is still operating in Lagos. Wow what is in this
1:26.5	what is different besides for what is different okay so I'll have the chicken sorry oh there's turkey
1:34.1	to understand the Mr. Biggs story you need to roll back the clock to 1932 when union trading company
1:46.4	PLC a Swiss conglomerate took over a business called Kingsway stores. Kingsway was the most
1:53.4	exclusive retail chain in colonial British West Africa established by British import export
2:00.0	fam Miller brothers it was modeled on luxurious London department stores like Harrods and
2:06.8	Sofridge's they had a small cafe and when people finish their shopping they'll pop into the
2:12.3	cafe it was called Kingsway and the Voo so that was the origin for Mr. Biggs so when Kingsway
2:19.5	stores was finally closed down this arm of the store is making money so it was decided to set up
2:26.5	a restaurant called Mr. Biggs and that was the beginning it was basically run by the white man
2:32.7	they were still in Nigeria at the time and then they had to leave 100 over to fantastic young
	...

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