A tasty trillion: Nigeria’s attractive food delivery business

The food business is big business, especially in Lagos. Traffic-prone and densely populated, the city’s 21 million people spend a significant portion of their income eating outside their homes. At almost every corner of the state, you’ll typically find a restaurant, kiosk, bar or just a street vendor serving the bellies of the customers. Now, these could be beverages alongside snacks, proper meals or feel good delicacies like pepper soup or barbequed meat.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Lagos residents spent a whopping ₦830 billion eating out in 2019—representing 34% of total food expenditure. That amount begins to increase when you include groceries. 

Throw in spendings on processed food, alcoholic drinks and cooking oil—all which can be sold online—and the food and drinks market in Lagos rises to roughly ₦1.1 trillion. 

That’s a quarter of total household consumption.

The rising trend in food and drinks deliveries has