The Ice Box Experience: Olugbuyi Ogunnaike Jnr Is Revolutionizing Event Logistics The Ice Box Way

Nigerians are big on celebrations. It has become an unarguable knowledge across the world that no one does the parties like the Green, white and Green people. With groovy music, delicious food, and eye-popping drips, Naija knows how to get down.

But a party is not complete without the elixir of fun – and that is where Olugbuyi Ogunnaike Jnr, the dynamic MD/CEO of Ice Box Nigeria Limited, comes in. He and his team at Ice Box have redefined what event experiences are or can be.

With a creative approach, keen passion and consistency, Olugbuyi has carved out a distinctive niche for himself in the industry, offering total logistics solutions for events through Ice Box. The brand has become a staple at every major event in Nigeria and it is almost considered less classy to not have the Ice Box experience at a large Nigerian event.

But Ice Box is not just a party drink supply company; it’s a comprehensive provider of event logistics. From supplying a diverse range of beverages to delivering ice blocks and setting up mobile bars, Ice Box ensures that every aspect of drink service at events is meticulously taken care of.

What sets Olugbuyi apart is his commitment to catering to client’s specific needs, whether they’re hosting a cosy gathering or a lavish affair.

Olugbuyi talks to Rayo Kasali of SIMPLE Magazine about the Ice Box journey and what keeps him and his brand ticking.

How did you manage to build your empire, as we know it today?

It was tough starting up. I can’t say if any business starts rosy. As a businessperson, whenever I make plans I always leave a few months that won’t be so interesting but this is a different case. When we started in 2010, it was rough. After graduating from Babcock University in 2003 where I studied Business Administration, served in Port Harcourt, and did my MBA at the University of Lagos, then I started to look for a job, but it wasn’t coming. I decided to start up something, I started to sell things like clothes, and shoes but before long I realized that people owed me a lot of money. I tried to do communication business for a while and it didn’t work too. Icebox started in 2010, and we got our first deal in 2012, it took like 18 months to get it and it was very tough, the profit on it was N8, 000.00 and we still had to work, pay salaries and bills, it was a long process that wasn’t easy at all.

What kept you going?

I am generally a patient person. I had friends who would call me then and ask about my drinks business and I always answered them that at some point it would pick up. At the point that I started like in 2013, a lot of my friends were getting married, and the kind of guys I went to school with were the ‘rich kids’ whose parents already had vendors they used. I pitched myself as a backup vendor to the already contracted vendors, and we broke in from there to the planners and the parents.

What other factors do you think are key for anyone starting a business?

When I started I assumed that nobody does the business, but when I got into the business I realized some people had been doing it way before me. Whatever it is that you want to do, I believe that if you put your mind to it, you can get it done, as long as you are not greedy which is very important.

What did you do to separate yourself from existing businesses like yours?

When we started, I paid a lot of attention to the way the waiters looked and some equipment. I could not afford those pieces of equipment at the time, so I made sure my staff were always neat. If you are at an event and you spot my staff they will always stand out, at some point, I started getting a lot of feedback from my friends and colleagues about how my guys are always neat. That stayed and I worked to build on that as well.

It’s safe to say it’s more than just selling drinks but also building an experience.

Yes. Absolutely. The experience is what builds brand retention.

At what point did you get the first fulfilment?

Has to be in 2014/2015 – a major event. It was my most important customer who helped my business a lot throughout that period and also put me on to a lot of people. It was in Ilorin, one of my sisters was there, even though she got drunk at the event. It was a major event with about 1300 guests, an engagement and a wedding, and the invoice was very large at that time. When they paid the money, I took out my profit and bought a car first, a Baby boy. Ever since then the guy has been supporting my business, referring and recommending me to his friends and family to handle drinks at their events.

“To stay relevant in business you have to make sure everything works properly.”

What was your major challenge after your first fulfilment?

The major challenge was my staff, bringing different people from different walks of life to work with you, people who aren’t very educated or comfortable and you try to make them what you want them to become. When the guys started to work and it seemed things were going on well, what they had in mind was theft. Trying to deal with theft was really difficult, but we tried. You can’t completely take it out from any organization but you can control and manage it to the barest minimum. Some of the other challenges were sometimes logistics.

What is the preparation aspect like for your niche?

I put a lot of effort into preparing for events, sometimes we get impromptu events but because of experience I can put it all together and deliver.

Are the standards the same across all events?

You can take multiple events, but you have to learn not to be greedy. You can have 4 events on a Saturday, they are all paying well, buying a lot of expensive drinks, but you don’t want to expose your staff to so many of those events because they’re human, they can switch. It’s better to take 3 events because I know I have 3 teams that are strong enough to manage it, if the fourth event comes I will decline and recommend someone else. Ice Box treats every event with the same level of attention to detail and professionalism, regardless of scale or budget.

Being in operation and at the forefront of your service for more than a decade, how do you manage to reinvent yourself?

To stay relevant in business you have to make sure everything works properly, I am not trying to be number 1, I am just trying to stay relevant in service, delivery, aesthetics, clients, staff, and anything that we introduce has to be nice and top-notch. After all these, the good things definitely follow.

How do you know when to add something to reinvent yourself?

Every quarter we try to introduce something new because people get tired easily, Nigerians especially. We just think and we implement it, some time ago I made a Rolls-Royce bar, and when we started using it people did not like it, we tried it again and it blew up. We tried the G-Wagon bar some time ago, we just try to be innovative and introduce different things to them. Sometimes you have an idea and it doesn’t work now, you use it in 6 months and it flies.

On branching out to expand, what is the latest thing you are doing?

We just introduced a retail outlet store on Akowonjo Road called Liquor Express by Icebox. It caters to different kinds of luxury drinks affordable to people around the vicinity. The environment is huge and it means that most of the people there have to go down to Ikeja or the Island to get their drinks. So we decided to bring it closer to them. There is also a lounge on the premises as well called Palazzo. We’ve got good food, great vibes, great drinks, and different activities every day, a live band, old school music. We are open every day.

How do you maintain the originality of your drink as well as quality service?

We work with the brands and get our drinks from them. For instance, I’m signed with Hennessy, so all of their products come directly from them, same for the other brands, which we pick up from the source. Originality for us is very key. Sometimes we have clients buy their drinks themselves which happens quite some times, and we make sure not to serve them and inform the client that the drinks are fake. Expressly speaking to protect our brand image if we can’t confirm the authenticity of the drinks we won’t be working with them.

How do you react to unforeseen challenges?

For me, I am more of like a problem solver. if something happens to me right now, I am looking for a solution immediately, I have had situations where the staff didn’t carry water from the office and I had to take it upon myself to deliver the water to the venue personally, those kinds of challenges come in time to time but being able to solve it immediately without panicking is key.

As a businessman in the Nigerian business scene, what do you think is the biggest asset for anyone doing business here?

I will say loyal staff, but that can be relative. I have had guys who have been working with me for like 13 years, I give room for you to discover yourself with the understanding that you can’t work with me forever, giving them the chance to find and do their own thing makes them loyal to me to a level.