When Pocketfood launched, the idea was simple: make everyday meals more affordable for urban Nigerians through a consumer-facing food platform. The timing, however, could not have been worse. As inflation surged and food prices climbed to record highs, the very problem Pocketfood set out to solve began threatening its survival.
In its early days, Pocketfood focused squarely on B2C. The startup partnered with local food vendors to offer discounted meal options to individual customers, betting on volume to make up for thin margins. But inflation quickly eroded that plan. Ingredient costs rose unpredictably, vendors adjusted prices almost weekly, and customers—already under pressure—became increasingly price-sensitive. What looked affordable one month became unsustainable the next.
By its first year, Pocketfood was burning cash just to stay relevant. Customer acquisition costs rose, retention dropped, and discounts became harder to justify. “We realised we were subsidising meals in an economy where prices were moving faster than our balance sheet,” one team member recalls. The company faced a stark choice: pivot or shut down.
The turning point came when Pocketfood noticed an unexpected pattern. Small businesses—offices, startups, and factories—were quietly using the platform to place bulk orders for staff meals. Unlike individual consumers, these organisations valued reliability and convenience over rock-bottom pricing. They also ordered consistently, making demand more predictable.
Pocketfood leaned in.
The startup began reshaping its product for B2B customers, offering structured meal plans, negotiated bulk pricing, and scheduled deliveries for teams. Instead of chasing thousands of individual orders daily, Pocketfood focused on fewer, larger clients. This shift transformed its economics almost overnight. Bulk procurement reduced per-unit costs, predictable demand improved logistics, and recurring contracts stabilised revenue.
Inflation was still a problem—but now it was manageable. Pocketfood could renegotiate contracts periodically, adjust menus based on seasonal price changes, and pass some costs to corporate clients without losing them. For businesses, outsourcing staff meals remained cheaper and easier than managing it internally.
By day 1,000, Pocketfood looked nothing like the scrappy B2C startup it started as. The company had evolved into a food solutions provider for businesses, with B2B contributing the majority of its revenue. What once felt like a compromise became a strategic advantage, insulating the startup from the volatility that crippled many consumer-focused food ventures.
Pocketfood’s journey underscores a broader lesson for African startups: resilience often lies in flexibility. In markets where inflation, currency swings, and supply shocks are the norm, clinging rigidly to an original model can be fatal. Pocketfood survived not by outlasting inflation, but by adapting to it—finding a customer segment better equipped to weather the storm.
In the end, B2B didn’t just save Pocketfood. It gave the startup a clearer path to scale in one of the world’s toughest operating environments.
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