Nigerians are now spending an average of N4,703 per meal at restaurants, with beef emerging as the preferred protein over turkey and goat meat in Lagos, according to a 2023 survey.
The insights stem from the ‘Orda Pulse 2023: Food Trend Tracker’ report by Orda Africa, a Nigerian food tech startup.
Specializing in providing a cloud-based operating system to small and medium-sized restaurants across Nigeria and Kenya, Orda Africa’s report sheds light on the evolving dining habits of people living in Lagos.
According to the findings, the average spending per meal in Lagos has seen a slight uptick from N4640 in 2022 to N4703, painting a nuanced picture of changing culinary trends.
Remarkably, “despite a weakening currency and rising inflation, the cost of a meal for restaurants using Orda saw minimal movement, with just a 1.36% increase from October 2022 to October 2023. “
Diving into the data, Jollof rice takes the lead as the most-ordered menu item with 5.3 million orders, followed closely by beef at 4.47 million orders and plantain(3.6 million). Turkey records 1.88 million orders, while goat meat follows with 1.48 million orders.
In terms of peak ordering times, Nigerians tend to order food from restaurants starting at noon, reaching a peak at 7 PM. While delivery orders are in the minority, there’s a noticeable increase during lunch hours (around 1:00 PM) and in the evening, indicating key times for delivery services.
In the realm of payments, digital transactions, including transfers, USSD, and cards, are the preferred method, accounting for 65%, while cash transactions make up the remaining 35%.
Dine-in and takeaway experiences dominate, contributing to over 90% of restaurant sales, indicating a strong preference among Nigerians for enjoying their meals within the restaurant setting.
These culinary trends shed light on reports highlighting that Nigerians spend about 60% of their income on food, largely due to inflationary pressures and meager wages.
This year, TheWitness reported that food remains a major driver of inflation, with food inflation rising to 1.52% on a year-on-year basis, representing a 7.80% point increase from October 2022 (23.72%). The surge in food inflation is attributed to increases in various categories, including Bread and cereals, Oil and fat, Potatoes, Yam and other Tubers, Fish, Fruit, Meat, Vegetables, Milk, Cheese, and Eggs.
Specifically, rice continues to be a significant part of the menu, with Nigeria projected to import 2.1 million metric tons of rice in 2024, potentially making the country the top rice buyer globally, according to the latest Rice Outlook report by the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Global rice trade is expected to reach about 52.85 million tons by 2024, with increased exports from Brazil and South Korea and more imports from Burkina Faso, Indonesia, and Nigeria. It’s no surprise that rice remains a staple on the menu.
