Bolt Food, the food delivery arm of the popular cab hailing company, Bolt, will exit the Nigerian market on December 7, 2023, according to a statement from the company.The company in a statement said it was making the difficult decision to discontinue it’s food delivery business due to what it termed “business viability reasons”.
“The decision to exit this market is necessary to streamline our resources and maximize our overall efficiency as a company. This means that our users will not be able to place Bolt Food orders through our food app after the 7th of December, 2023.”
Reacting to speculations that it decided to exit the scene after managing to control a paltry 5% of the thriving Nigerian market, communications manager for Bolt in Nigeria, Femi Adeyemo, told reporters that the company made the decision after thoroughly evaluating its performance in the West African country. “Over the last 3 years, we have heavily invested in these markets, investing in low commissions to increase selection and incentives to encourage customers to move over to Bolt Food. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, these investments haven’t been successful and have only managed to achieve less than 5% market share,” he corroborated.
In October 2021, the ride-hailing company launched Bolt Food to take on rivals like Jumia Food and Gokada, joining to market to deliver a simplified access to food in Lagos, later extending its reach into places like Ajah, Sangotedo, Festac, Satellite Town, Egbeda, and Ogba. It had earlier hinted in March 2021 that its intention to enter the Nigerian food delivery market was due to increased demand for food delivery services during the Coronavirus pandemic.
The business model, according to the company, was simple.
It would partner with the consumers, the restaurants and the couriers.Since its launch, Bolt Food has partnered with more than 10,000 restaurants in Nigeria and delivered more than one million meals. The company is said to have onboarded 23,000 agents and 12,000 merchants.
The Nigerian online food delivery market was estimated to be worth $834.7 million in 2022 while from 2023 to 2028 it is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12.2%, reaching $1,719.4 million. Despite the promising figures the food delivery industry unarguably faces several challenges, including managing customer expectations, improper food handling, fluctuating market prices, and logistical challenges.
Philips Babatunde