Chowdeck lays off 86 contract staff amid operational optimisation

• Published On: 06 March 2025 at 18:30

Chowdeck, a Nigerian food delivery startup, has laid off 86 contract employees following recent operational improvements aimed at increasing efficiency and reducing manual processes.

According to CEO Femi Aluko, the company's operations team has grown sixfold over the last year, from 20 employees in January 2024 to 120 in January 2025. However, Aluko explained that this growth was unsustainable given Chowdeck's 2025 goal of fivefolding its business.

"As we were growing very fast last year, we had to hire a lot of contract people to handle operations," Aluko told me. "Over the past two months, we've optimised many of these processes, so we no longer need as many contract staff."

He emphasised that the layoffs were not due to financial difficulties, but rather a shift towards efficiency.

Recent streamlining efforts have yielded noticeable results. Tasks that once required 24 staff members can now be completed by just two, and average delivery times have decreased from 41 minutes to 33 minutes.

The affected employees were informed during a meeting on Thursday morning. Aluko announced that each would receive a severance package that included three months' salary and health insurance, and that Chowdeck would assist them in transitioning to new roles outside of the company. He confirmed that no full-time employees were affected.

Despite the layoffs, Chowdeck continues to aggressively expand. The startup, which raised a $2.5 million seed round in 2024, recently reached 10 million deliveries, with six million of those coming in the last nine months.

Chowdeck began operations in Kaduna and Owerri in January, with a beta launch in Ghana planned for next week. The company has appointed a Country Manager for Ghana, but operations will initially be limited to Accra, in line with its city-by-city expansion strategy.

Chowdeck's operational improvements have also sped up its growth timeline, cutting city launch times from three months to one week, with Owerri's launch reportedly completed in a single weekend.