Chowdeck and Glovo customers are weighing rising prices towards comfort as meals supply turns into a every day necessity.
Originally of 2025, *Anita, a Lagos-based marketer, resolved to cut back her reliance on meals supply apps to regain management of her finances. As one in every of Chowdeck’s prime customers in 2024, with 168 orders, she considers her app use extreme. But, like many New 12 months’s resolutions, this one shortly fell by the wayside.
Two weeks into January, she was already 20 orders deep—precisely the place she left off in 2024. Within the face of mounting deadlines and a busy life, January was already a misplaced trigger, and February was the subsequent “attempt once more” date.
For customers like Anita, meals supply apps like Chowdeck, Glovo, FoodCourt, and Heyfood are greater than meal options—they’re important instruments for navigating the chaos of contemporary life. Whereas these apps present comfort, the stress between comfort and value gnaws at their customers. Based on information from Picodi, Nigerian households spend 59% of their earnings on meals—the very best of any nation surveyed. For customers like Anita, meals supply apps are a luxurious that comes with an ongoing inside debate: Are they value it? For a lot of, the reply is sure.
“I’m not proud of how a lot I spend on meals, however there’s nothing I can do,” Anita admits. She juggles a social media advertising and marketing position and college courses, and for somebody continuously on the go, the time saved by meals supply apps is invaluable.
It’s a humorous product-market match: clients who can’t dwell with out the apps making doomed-to-fail resolutions about quitting. However not each consumer frowns on the price.
Take Ada, for instance. In 2024, she positioned 283 orders on Chowdeck however has no qualms concerning the rising expense. “Time is cash, and Chowdeck saves me quite a lot of time,” she says.
Earlier than her current commencement, Ada balanced a demanding job as a product designer at a venture-backed beauty-tech startup with college courses and content material creation on LinkedIn. Her days have been filled with conferences, deliverables, and tight deadlines. In her world, time is at a premium, and Chowdeck gives a treasured few further hours daily.
Ada’s expertise is one in every of predictability. She orders from the identical restaurant virtually every day, figuring out precisely what to anticipate. It’s an expertise she values deeply—dependable, environment friendly, and hassle-free. “I don’t care about selection,” she says. “I simply wish to know my meals shall be there once I want it.”
But, nothing is ideal. As with all the pieces that will get quite a lot of use, they’re customers who’re hyperaware of the restrictions of meals supply apps.
Fayokunmi, one other energy consumer who positioned almost 300 orders in 2024, is contemplating switching to Glovo after a irritating expertise.
His common order—a hearty meal of Amala with Ewedu and Gbegiri—had all the time been a satisfying ritual till a current concern: the restaurant began separating his Gbegiri and Ewedu into two plates and charging him further for the break up.
Regardless of leaving a number of notes asking them to plate his meals collectively, the issue continued. However his predominant gripe wasn’t the extra price—it was that when he contacted buyer assist, the app deferred to the restaurant, saying nothing could possibly be achieved.
For Fayokunmi, the difficulty wasn’t nearly meals or price—it was about being let down by an app he had relied on for years. The dearth of decision from Chowdeck’s assist group left him feeling alienated, he claimed, however he’s not prepared to surrender on meals supply apps altogether.
His reluctance to ditch the app speaks to a bigger fact about meals supply apps in Nigeria: they’ve developed from luxurious companies to very important productiveness instruments. For customers like him, Ada, and Anita, these apps aren’t nearly meals—they’re about saving time in a world the place each minute counts.
This shift in how individuals view meals supply apps is a part of a broader pattern. In a world the place work and life calls for are ever-growing, apps like Chowdeck and Glovo have embedded themselves into every day routines, making them extra important than ever. However this rising dependence comes with challenges. As meals supply companies turn into extra important to individuals’s lives, additionally they face larger expectations and elevated scrutiny.
Offering comfort and constant high quality shall be key to staying related in a contested market. Apps that may adapt shortly to consumer frustrations whereas maintaining their core worth proposition—time financial savings and comfort—intact will proceed to thrive within the aggressive meals supply panorama.
This highlights a key issue tremendous customers take severely: selection. Whereas customers usually develop loyalty to a single restaurant, a broad choice is essential in attracting new clients and maintaining them engaged.
Chowdeck, which claims to have 1,000,000 customers, appears to have mastered this. Six out of ten “tremendous customers” say the various restaurant choice drives their choice. That is doubtless pushed by strategic partnerships, like a 2024 unique cope with Hen Republic, which excluded different apps like Glovo and HeyFood from taking orders from the favored chain in particular prime places.
Nonetheless, cost-conscious customers commerce selection for value. Take Adekunle Adeleke, a Glovo tremendous consumer who briefly switched to Chowdeck for its extra expansive collection of distributors. “As soon as [Chowdeck’s] supply charges elevated, I needed to rethink,” he advised TechCabal.
Supply charges are a well-liked concern and might price as much as ₦1,000 on some apps, with service charges including to the pile.
To stay aggressive, platforms should discover a stability—the suitable unit economics to make sure they’re not dropping cash on each supply whereas giving clients the notion of deal.
Traditionally, meals supply firms have subsidised prices, charging customers lower than the service price. The extent of those subsidies usually is determined by the corporate’s funding. Glovo, working in 7 international locations, has raised over $1 billion—over 200 instances the quantity raised by native opponents like Chowdeck, HeyFood, and FoodCourt mixed.
But well-funded firms like Bolt Meals and Jumia Meals have exited the phase, citing a race to the underside and unsustainable unit economics. The gamers which have taken their place are innovating round sustainability issues.
Glovo and Chowdeck have launched subscription plans to customers potential price financial savings and inspiring them to position extra orders.
Glovo Prime, for example, has a ₦2,000 month-to-month subscription that helps customers save on supply charges. Chowdeck provides a ₦3,500 month-to-month plan, ChowPass, that reductions charges from choose eating places. These price financial savings are vital with Adekunle Adeleke claiming to have saved over ₦116,000 in three months with Glovo Prime, ordering a minimum of as soon as every day from Glovo.
Dolapo, a director at a fintech startup, subscribes to ChowPass and Glovo Prime and spends round ₦400,000 month-to-month on meals supply. She prefers Chowdeck for its selection however depends on Glovo for groceries and aggressive pricing. “The market is chaotic, and I have to optimise for productiveness.”
Nonetheless, customers need elevated performance and comfort. Aderinsola Oluwafemi, a product designer and Chowdeck tremendous consumer who positioned 220 orders in 2024 desires to order from a number of eating places concurrently. That means, she doesn’t want to depart her residence a number of instances to choose up orders. “I do know this shall be laborious,” says Oluwafemi, who can also be a product designer.
“Time is cash, and it’s saving me quite a lot of time,” stated Peace Solomon, a self-described Chowdeck loyalist, who spends round ₦50,000 on Chowdeck orders weekly. “I exploit my free time to review and create content material for my LinkedIn.”
Adeleke, a Glovo consumer, desires a wider restaurant choice and extra dependable deliveries. “It may be an actual combat to get your meals on time,” he advised TechCabal, citing cases of Glovo riders making deliveries barefoot. Whereas Glovo gives full refunds for such incidents, he would like if it occurred much less ceaselessly.
Regardless of the suggestions, meals supply apps are typically in lockstep with their customers—this goldmine of a buyer phase comfortable to spend cash persistently to allow them to be productiveness machines. That type of trade-off is acquainted to the formidable, who perceive that being productive is about making marginal modifications. So what in the event that they spend 30 to 40% of their earnings on meals supply apps? It’ll guarantee they’ve entertaining New 12 months’s resolutions for 2026.
