Case study · Food & Hospitality
Orange Bowl
A beloved bowl-food kitchen doing 70% of its delivery volume through aggregator apps that took 25–30% commission on every order — and kept every customer's contact details to themselves.
55%
Delivery orders now direct
₦8.4m
Commissions saved, year one
+38%
Repeat-order rate
01 · The business
Maryann Abaniwu started Orange Bowl from her kitchen in 2021, selling through Instagram DMs. By the time she had a proper shop in Wuse 2, the delivery apps had become both her biggest channel and her biggest expense.
The maths hurt: on a ₦6,500 bowl, the apps kept up to ₦1,950. Raising prices to cover it made her look expensive next to competitors; absorbing it ate the margin. Worse, she'd served thousands of customers and didn't have a single one's phone number — the apps did.
Instagram DM orders were the other extreme: personal, commission-free, and total chaos to manage during lunch rush.
02 · What we did
We built ordering into her own site: full menu, Paystack checkout, delivery zones with honest fees, and WhatsApp notifications when an order is confirmed and out for delivery. Order management runs from a tablet in the kitchen.
A simple loyalty programme — every eighth bowl free — gave customers a reason to create an account, which is how Orange Bowl finally started owning its customer list.
Then the part most agencies skip: the migration campaign. Flyers in every aggregator delivery bag ('Order direct, get free delivery on your next bowl'), an Instagram bio link, and a small launch discount. You don't beat the apps by existing; you beat them by giving regulars a reason to switch.
03 · What happened
Twelve months on, 55% of delivery volume comes through the site. At her volumes that translated to roughly ₦8.4m in commissions that stayed in the business — more than ten times what the project cost.
The customer list is now 4,000+ strong. A single 'new menu drop' email or SMS produces a visible spike in orders — a lever she simply didn't have before.
Repeat orders rose 38%, driven by the loyalty programme and re-order nudges. The apps still bring new customers; the difference is they no longer own the relationship afterwards.
“I was paying the apps more than I was paying my chefs. Now more than half our orders come direct, and when I have a slow Tuesday I can actually do something about it — I message my own customers.”
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