In 2024, Tantalizers, a prominent restaurant franchise in Nigeria, notably reduced its spending on commissions paid to food delivery platforms to just ₦65,000, a significant drop from the previous year’s over ₦6 million expense. This decrease in fees coincided with the company’s revenue of ₦2.1 billion by September 2024, accounting for 80% of its total revenue in 2023.
Having initially ventured into using delivery apps like Glovo and Jumia Food in 2019 to boost sales, Tantalizers later shifted to a more direct approach in 2020 by launching its food ordering platform and managing deliveries in-house due to the surge in online food demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decline in service fees paid to delivery platforms reflects challenges in generating sales through these channels. Tantalizers, an established player in the industry, has faced stiff competition and struggled to appeal to younger consumers, as evident from its lower ratings compared to competitors like The Place.
Despite efforts to adapt, Tantalizers has experienced ongoing financial losses, including a pre-tax loss of ₦231 million for the nine months ending September 2024. To address these challenges, Food Specialties and Organics, along with Banklink Africa, acquired a majority stake in Tantalizers PLC for ₦1 billion in October, providing new capital to help the company reposition itself in the competitive restaurant landscape.