86 Contract Staff Let Go After Operational Improvements
Food delivery startup Chowdeck has announced the layoff of 86 contract staff, representing 68% of its contract workforce.
CEO Femi Aluko explained that the company’s operations team had grown sixfold in the past year—from 20 employees in January 2024 to 120 in January 2025. However, the rapid expansion was unsustainable based on the company’s growth targets for 2025.
“As we were growing very fast last year, we had to hire a lot of contract people to help handle operations,” Aluko said. “In the last two months, we’ve optimised those processes, so we no longer need as many contract employees.”
He emphasized that the layoffs were not due to financial struggles but rather a result of efficiency improvements in operations.
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Faster Deliveries, Smaller Teams
The operational optimisations have focused primarily on improving delivery times.
- A team that previously required 24 employees can now operate with just two.
- Average delivery times have dropped from 41 minutes to 33 minutes.
Support for Laid-Off Workers
The affected contract employees were informed during a meeting on March 6, 2025.
- Each will receive three months’ salary and health insurance as severance.
- Chowdeck also plans to assist them in finding new jobs.
- No full-time employees were affected by the layoffs.
Chowdeck’s Rapid Growth and Expansion Plans
Chowdeck has continued to expand aggressively.
- The startup hit the 10 million delivery mark on March 3, 2025.
- 60% of those deliveries (six million) occurred in just the last nine months.
- The company raised a $2.5 million seed round in 2024 to support its growth.
Expansion into Ghana and Faster City Launches
Thanks to its operational efficiencies, Chowdeck is now expanding faster.
- January 2025: Launched in Kaduna and Owerri.
- March 2025: Preparing for beta launch in Ghana.
Chowdeck has already appointed a Country Manager for Ghana and will start operations in Accra before considering other cities.
“Even though we’re launching in Ghana, that doesn’t mean we’ll expand to Kumasi soon,” Aluko said. “We approach expansion city by city, focusing on places where our product has already achieved Product-Market Fit (PMF).”
Faster City Launches Possible
The recent optimisations have also accelerated the launch process.
- Previously, launching in a new city took three months.
- Now, Chowdeck can launch in just one week—as seen with its recent Owerri expansion, which happened over a weekend.
With leaner operations and improved efficiency, Chowdeck is now positioned to scale even faster across Nigeria and Africa.
