Years ago, when people think of the food service business they thought more of the kiosk, street vendors, and restaurants. But in the most recent years, this notion has been challenged to a large extent, due to the rising need for comfort, ease and dynamics of the ever evolving technology in the landscape of Nigeria.

Yes, the food service business in Nigeria doesn’t have statistics to point to on its profitability. However, it’s imperative to know that in the United States according to Statista:

• Revenue in the Online Food Delivery segment amounts to US$136,431m in 2020.
• Revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2020–2024) of 7.5%, resulting in a market volume of US$182,327m by 2024.
• The market’s largest segment is Platform-to-Consumer Delivery with a market volume of US$70,741m in 2020.
• In global comparison, most revenue is generated in China (US$51,514m in 2020).

Be it as it may, that is some mouth watering statistics to be honest. The reality that the most essential needs of man (food, clothing and shelter), cannot be defeated even in the coming generations, is a pointer to the need to focus on boosting a sector that might not be the spotlight of the decade.

So how is an emerging startup preparing to handle this problem and how are they solving this in all ramification?

Food Delivery: The Business Overview

Food delivery business is arguably one of the lucrative businesses in Nigeria today. And this is due to the fact that people rarely have time to cook these days, especially the working class. Also, technology is beginning to play a huge role in our everyday lives, and the way we buy food. Most people now prefer to buy food online, as it is more convenient and comfortable than going out to a fast food or roadside food vendor/restaurant to do the buying.

Online Food Delivery comprises services which deliver prepared meals and food that was ordered online for direct consumption. The Restaurant-to-Consumer Delivery segment includes the delivery of meals carried out directly by the restaurants. The order may be made via platforms (e.g. Jumia Food, Uber Eats, Dera Foods) or directly through a restaurant website (e.g. Food Hive).

The Platform-to-Consumer Delivery market segment focuses on online delivery services that provide customers with meals from partner restaurants that do not necessarily have to offer food delivery themselves. In this case, a platform or delivery partner handles the delivery process. Not included are orders by telephone, unpacked food for immediate consumption as well as non-processed or non-prepared food.

Food Vending: An Overview

From giants like Jumia, Konga, to small startups, direct-to-consumer delivery and pickup options have swept the country?—?and restaurants are no exception. Ordering food online or through a mobile app took off in 2019 and it will only grow further and faster in 2020, though the corona-virus has put a temporary halt on businesses globally and in Nigeria, the food vendor business is still thriving.

What or who is a ‘food vendor’?

A Food vendor means any person, public or private, located within the State, who offers for sale or sells food or beverage products. Food vendor means any restaurant, retail food vendor or nonprofit food provider.

Food vendor means any and all sales outlets, stores, shops, vehicles or other places of business located or operating in the city that operate primarily to sell or convey foods or beverages to consumers, and stores that sell food or beverages in combination with a physical entity (such as a gasoline station).

In more depth we can discern that a Food vendor means any establishment, located or providing food within the cities of Nigeria, which provides prepared and ready-to-consume food or beverages, for public consumption including but not limited to any store, supermarket, delicatessen, restaurant, retail food vendor, sales outlet, shop, cafeteria, catering truck or vehicle, sidewalk or other outdoor vendor, or caterer.

Food Service Business? – ?The Disparity

The whole world is leveraging on different marketing schemes to help boost their business presence. Unfortunately, many food service providers who are into production of various cuisines are yet to catch this cruise.

The top tier service platforms such as Jumia Food, Uber Eats, and even OPay does not fully feature many local food vendors to manage their business as their strong points. Why? Policies, intents and objectives differ with respect to individual food commerce companies. The platforms do not recognize the average Nigerian business on the streets. The average Nigerian food vendor businesses are lost, as they see fellow citizens purchase exotic meals that they can produce with more superiority and style.

Nigerian food service providers need systems they can use to organize, and manage their business activities from the comfort of their smart owned devices such as smartphones, computers and more. This is where Food Hive comes to play, but what is this startup about and how do they plan to solve this problem they claim to exist?

Smartly Pioneering The Business of Food Service Technology

According to the Food Hive team, they opined that Food Hive is a technology company solving ordering and delivery problems for ambitious food service businesses. The mission is to help food service businesses in Nigeria become profitable and loved.

Food Hive offer their services in: Grocery Markets (Deli Counter, Specialty Items, Advanced Orders), Restaurants (Cafes, Delis, Juice Bars, Coffee and Bagels), Food Vendor (Verified food vendors around your area), and Catering (The system is set up to better satisfy the needs of your audience at any event).

A Modern Food Multi-Vendor Marketplace

Food Hive builds technology to help Nigeria’s best food service businesses grow, from new startups, to market leaders launching any business models. They are inspired by a vision of millions of exceptional food service businesses across the nation who’re profitable, and loved. They believe that in their lifetimes, such businesses in Nigeria will routinely go toe to toe with the best companies on the planet, and win in providing essential services for the increasing population.

The Food Hive product/service is 100% Nigeria made product, as according to the founder, it is entirely designed and built in the dynamic, entrepreneurial cities of Owerri and Lagos!

At this time, the team has announced that more food vendors, and restaurant owners should sign up on the platform, as the Food Hive has rolled out low cost pricing which is aimed at fostering a relationship between their partners.

Food Hive is a commission based platform too, this means for every sale on the platform by a business, they earn a certain rate of commission on sales, depending on the membership plan subscribed to by the business entity/owner. Businesses register a profile using any of the membership plan provided by Food Hive. After activating a membership plan successfully they can add their menus and cuisine too.

The Commission based system entails that depending on what plan the businesses opt-in, a charge rate is taken as commission for each product sold on Food Hive. The remaining balance is left to the business.

Users too can register and order from any vendor and get their delivery to their doorstep location or even pick it up.

Benefits of the Food Hive Marketplace

All businesses using Food Hive get to use premium order service management, the first of its kind in Nigeria. This means, instead of a food service to lose track of who has ordered meals, they have a central dashboard to manage customer purchase, earning, social impressions and much more.

Businesses using Food Hive can run Ads on the platform too and get a large based of customers to view their service. Businesses using the service get a special advantage of the Premium SEO service. This means that once a search (or relevant query) is made on search engines such as Google, your business is showing in the Search Engine Result Pages.

Businesses can request to withdraw earnings which will be paid out on a daily or when scheduled by the business service provider.

Other benefits of using the Food Hive platform include: Centralized System, Unique Dashboard, Membership Plan, Review System, Earnings, Secure Data Management, Promotional Articles on their Blog Trusted Service Customer Service Support and more.

Food Hive is also FraudLabs Pro certified, this means all transactions are authenticated and vetted for fraud.

Conclusion: To The Horizon

As stated on the onset, when people think of the food service business they think of the kiosk, street vendors, and restaurants. But in the most recent years, this notion has been challenged to a large extent, due to the rising need for comfort, ease and dynamics of the ever evolving technology in the landscape of Nigeria.

A technology company solving ordering and delivery problems for ambitious food service businesses is Food Hive. Their mission is to help food service businesses in Nigeria become profitable and loved.

On Saturday, May 30, at 3.22 P.M. Eastern Time, SpaceX pulled off a historical new beginning of human spaceflight from the US soil. It was a new dawn that started with a dream and gradually evolved into a thrilling reality.

In 2010, under president Obama, a program called the Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) began to replace the existing space shuttle going on retirement. The aim was to replace the shuttle with a privately built spacecraft. Two US companies, SpaceX and Boeing were contracted with $2.6 billion and $4.2 billion funding respectively to build a new spaceflight for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

So the journey that brought Florida to a standstill on Saturday started, and now the rest is history.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft leaped on a Falcon 9 rocket from the Launch Complex 39-A at Cape Canaveral in Florida, marking a new era of commercial spaceflight.

The launch was originally scheduled for Wednesday but was moved due to unfavorable weather. But it did not only fulfill a dream, it made history. The Crew Dragon was funded by NASA and has become the first private human vehicle to head for orbit.

The dream has come true, and the dreamer, Elon Musk, and the world fascinated by his prodigy have been thrilled beyond awe by the reality.

“This is everything America has to offer in its purest form. Times are tough right now. But I hope this moment in time is an opportunity everybody to reflect on humanity and what we can do when we work together,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine after the launch.

Aboard the spacecraft are two astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, making sure the history segmented into three important aspects, touches its final destination.

It is the first time that astronauts have been launched into space from the US soil since 2011.

SpaceX is recording its first-ever crewed mission.

This is also the first time ever that a privately developed spacecraft launched humans into orbit.

The destination is the International Space Station (ISS), 400 kilometers above the earth. It will take Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley 19 hours to reach their destination.

The spaceflight is expected to reach the ISS Sunday afternoon if all go well, where the astronauts will meet with three other people, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner.

The United States government has been working since 2004 to find an alternative to the space shuttle retired by President Bush. The space shuttle flew for the last time in 2011, ever since then, no human has ever launched to orbit from the US soil. The quest to fill the vacuum created by the retired spacecraft continued with subsequent US presidents. With the CCDev program, the scientific adventure to usher in a new era was born.

Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX was thrilled at the prospect of commercial spaceflight, and went to work with all eagerness. SpaceX has enormous experience in spacecraft because it has been flying missions to the ISS for NASA, including the cargo version it flew in 2010.

The Crew Dragon was first tested in March 2019, when SpaceX performed an uncrewed test flight to the ISS. But the progress suffered setbacks in April, when the spacecraft disappointedly exploded following a valve malfunction while in a routine test back on earth.

Musk whose goal is to launch humans to Mars, got back to work. Just about a year after the disappointment from the explosion, history became kind to him.

SpaceX was founded in 2002 with a big dream of operating commercial services, putting people on the moon and launching others to Mars. Musk is working on a bigger space vehicle, the Starship, to accommodate more people in years to come. Part of the plan is to start commercial services with the Crew Dragon so that paying customers can be launched into space.

The Starship vehicle is expected to accommodate up to 100 passengers. SpaceX is planning to include it with two other vehicles in its Artemis program billed to commence Moon trips in 2024. As part of its contract with NASA, SpaceX will continue to deliver astronauts to the ISS increasing the number of passengers up to four in coming months.

Elon Musk has not only made history by making the spaceflight possible with a 18 years old company, he has also made the US government proud. Prior to this day, the only way to reach the ISS was through Russian Soyuz, and NASA has been paying Russia $90 million per seat over the past nine years.

Today, the launch of the Crew Dragon spaceflight has saved NASA the embarrassment, it has fulfilled a dream and Elon Musk is to be thanked for that. He said: “This is a dream come true. It is not something I thought would actually happen.”