Once upon a time in the streets of Harare, there was a fast-food outlet that could have been the next Chicken Inn, the next Slice… maybe even a ghetto Nando’s.
They had the packaging. They had the branding. They had the vibes.
If you scrolled through Facebook or TikTok, you’d swear this was the plug for soft life fast food. Influencers were tagging. TikTokers were dancing. The logo was everywhere… except in the one place that mattered the plate.
Instead of frying chicken, they were frying hashtags. Instead of investing in recipes, they were investing in ring lights. They mistook visibility for viability.
They thought being known meant they’d automatically get paid.
When the Likes Didn’t Pay Rent
The hype was loud too loud.
But inside the shop? Crickets.
The burgers looked like they’d been through sanctions. The chips were tasting like expired cooking oil. Walk-ins came once… and never came back.
While the social media team was uploading stories, the kitchen was serving apologies.
Slowly… The foot traffic thinned. The hype died down. And one day, the shutters closed like a scene from a Nollywood heartbreak.
Let’s Be Honest
You can’t eat followers.
You can’t cash in 20K views to pay ZESA.
100K reach means nothing if 0K customers are buying.
Marketing isn’t sales. Branding isn’t service.
Lessons from the Ghost of Burgers Past
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Noise Without Taste is Just Hype Being loud without being good is a short-term win.
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Sales Start at the Till, Not the Timeline Likes are not legal tender.
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Don’t Confuse Popularity With Profit The streets can hype you and still let you die broke.
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Be the Chef Before the Socialite Build something worth marketing first.
Business is not a photoshoot. Customers don’t care about your captions if your food is trash. They don’t care about your filters if your service is slow.
Before you become a TikTok darling… Before you buy your neon sign… Before you host your influencer launch…
Make sure your product slaps. Make sure your systems work. Make sure your business can survive when Wi-Fi is down.
Because Africa remembers those who trended… but couldn’t sell.
By The Chartered Vendor
#AfricanBusinessLessons #EntrepreneurshipAfrica #BusinessTips #ZimBusiness #BrandingVsReality #HustleSmart #JerryNyazungu
