Lagos Food Delivery

Living in Lagos is not easy and neither is feeding in Lagos. If you’re like me who doesn’t like to cook, then you probably order takeout a lot. Thankfully, there are many services to fill that need but like many things in Lagos, it can be frustrating. We spoke to some Lagosians- vendors and customers alike- about the logistical and customer care nightmares that make them want to rip their hair out. 

For Rotimi, (@chez_ro) a chef who cooks out of his kitchen, it took a while for him to hack the food delivery service in Lagos.  

FIL: So tell me about food delivery in Lagos. 

Rotimi: I don’t know to be very honest. I’m tired but it’s what I have to live with. And I’m sure other business owners also face this. First off, the whole state is set up to frustrate you. The Licenses and fees you need to pay after owning your bike are just ridiculous. Imagine having to pay the government to put your logo on your bike that you bought with your money. Make it make sense. It’s the reason why a lot of people don’t bother with adding their logos.

Second, the roads are so bad. Everyone has to struggle with this, but worse for us who deliver food because of all the jostling around. It can ruin orders that didn’t get packed with extra care.

There’s so much incompetence because of the illiteracy of some riders. And it’s annoying to deal with. To me, it makes no sense that you’re doing a job that requires you to have a good sense of navigation. We’re not in the 1400s anymore so nobody needs to know how to navigate by stars and weather and flying birds. That’s why Google Maps exist. But some of these riders don’t even know how to use smartphones properly, talk more of using Google Maps to locate the destinations. So they’re calling the customer every 20-30 minutes to ask for directions. That’s frustrating. Except I know specifically that I live in an area that’s difficult to locate, I don’t want to be called at multiple intervals to ask how to get to me. It doesn’t make for a great experience.

There’s also the integrity of riders to take into consideration. I have heard horror stories of riders eating customers’ orders. Licking the sauce. Picking out gizzard. Or even just absconding with the food completely. Thankfully I’ve never experienced that, but it’s traumatising to think about it. And then the riders are taxed by agberos at any and every turn that is possible. It’s unfair for them too. 

Image Credit: Nairametrics

And food delivery is a very time-conscious thing. Food needs to be delivered early enough else, it starts to go bad. I’ve had my fair share of those and I can tell you that it’s never a good experience for both the vendor or the customer. I know the steps I take to preserve customer relationships. I either send them free food or give a considerable discount on their next order or even offer a  full refund. All the while, not getting the refund from the rider or the dispatch company.

Consumer behaviour is one of them. Customers don’t want to pay a lot of money for deliveries. Matter of fact, they’d rather you hiked the price of the products and offer them free delivery. It’s totally weird, but it’s a thing. And even though I work in a customer-delivery based industry, I’m also guilty of this.

You know how you want to order a pair of shoes for £35, and you proceed to check out, see that shipping is £12.50, but free shipping on orders above £50 and you buy another item that you may not need but will buy just because you don’t want to pay that delivery fee. So yeah, it’s a real thing and I’m guilty of that. And for this particular example, I’ve given, I’m not even ashamed of it.

FIL: So what was it like at the beginning? Has anything changed?

Rotimi: When I first started, I used to pay ₦1,500 for deliveries. And subsidise the ₦500 so that customers would pay ₦1,000. I lost a lot of money. Now that I’ve carved a small niche and made a name for myself, I don’t need to do that. 

Luckily I found a company that charges a ₦1,000 flat rate with just a few exceptions: to places like Ajah, Ikorodu and co. They come with their hitches and glitches, but it’s generally a stress-free service. 

Also, on days that I have a lot of orders going out, say on days I have to send out 30 packs of food to over 20 something locations, I use multiple riders and group their deliveries either in a linear route, or multiple deliveries that have one wide area, those will go to one rider. 

We learn on the job sha and devise new ways to adapt and render better and more efficient service. I don’t own a bike yet because I honestly cannot add that to my stress levels at the moment. But hopefully in the nearest future, when I’m expanding and start hiring people, I’d be able to do that. And I’d have the energy and time to monitor the riders and what not.

I never have troubles with delivering orders that need to be delivered by cab. Except for traffic, nothing else. Very trustworthy and super efficient guy, my cab guy.

FIL: Thank you for talking to us about this.

Rotimi: You’re welcome!

I also spoke to a customer, who’s at the other end of the food delivery coin, so to speak. She orders food from platforms like Jumia food, but she is done with their terrible customer service. 

M: I use Jumia foods, and the ordering process is easy as per the app is cool and all. 

But the wait time is unpredictable. I also order ingredients in the morning and spend a whole day waiting for something I wanted to eat at breakfast. I hate the fact that they don’t even call to let you know. At least notify me. Also, it’s impossible to cancel orders on the app, it’s almost like they’re saying you must take it by force. 

Another customer has similar complaints. 

R: Whatever you do, don’t use Jumia foods. I once ordered fried rice from The Place through the app, the food took more than four hours to get to me and worse the fried rice smelled funky. A total waste.

Another customer we talked to is generally unimpressed with Lagos food service in general.

C: I hate how these restaurants don’t take responsibility for their staff’s inefficiencies. 

Last week I got dessert from Nok by Alara but while eating, found a chunk of plastic in my cookie.  When I complained though, they were nice and apologetic. They also sent me another one the next day. RSVP essentially told me my order was messed up because I didn’t use their driver.  I typically call the restaurants directly because  I’ve had a lot of bad experiences with OyaNow and Jumia.  It’s always fine till they take 3 hours to deliver and be telling you stories or your food comes and something is off. 

These days, I’d rather just buy ingredients and cook, to prevent stress. 

What experiences have you had with Lagos food delivery?

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