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By Chinenye Anuforo
In Nigeria, technology is driving new ways of living just as it is in most parts of the world. Lagos, being the commercial capital, is a busy megacity with a growing population of mid to high-income earners in business, or with multiple streams of income who rely on the Internet for most of their daily transactions. They buy clothes, shoes and accessories, book taxis and stream music and videos online.
For most of them, working long hours away from home or even working remotely at home makes it difficult to manage accessing essential services or products such as groceries and cooked food, among other needs.
Quite often, the immediate struggle with a busy, engaged schedule requires figuring out what to eat and how to ensure consistent availability of these meals whenever required. Even on a less chaotic schedule, mid to high-income earners consider food options available to them as an alternative to having to handle cooking themselves, or as part of a social activity, whether it’s hosting an intimate or large social event or exploring cuisines from the comfort of their home on a relaxing day. Other common challenges they face include accessing food delivery options from food service providers that assure quality standards, timely delivery or interesting meal varieties.
In order to eliminate the challenges of securing fresh and delicious meals, Eden Life, a tech start-up, is driving innovation in the food delivery service space with its retail food brand, Homemade by Eden Life. Homemade is suitably created to enable meal deliveries of carefully crafted meals made by chefs to delight their customers. People typically trust food made at home more than those sourced from food vendors who may not be adequately trained for the task, and for good reason, especially when considering how closely linked health and wellbeing are connected to food. Homemade’s food production “engine” is enabled by other food professionals such as quality assurance experts, nutritionists, food procurement and inventory personnel who ensure that these meals are delivered at the right quality. To maintain the quality of food, Homemade has built a food production facility to manage safe production of food. They rely on their carefully designed quality assurance programme, which manages quality control from the point of produce delivery, which is sourced from suppliers, to monitoring ingredient quality in storage, and at every stage of the production (preparation, cooking), and order fulfillment (plating, packing) process. Homemade also extensively trains their staff and vendors on how to manage quality through their fulfillment and production processes.
With Homemade, you can access food deliveries on-demand or without a subscription or choose to plan your budget, and schedule your meal deliveries through a monthly subscription. Other ways you can enjoy meals from Homemade include catered services for your intimate or large social events, or through your company; Homemade provides services for office lunch catering; Yes, speak to your HR team to get your company onboard! With a platform like Homemade, the food service delivery process is enabled by technology to not only deliver quality meals to customers on time but also manage back-end operations that ensure they keep to their promise, and continuously improve service experience. This innovation by Eden Life is expected to bring a revolution into Nigeria’s food service industry. A brainchild of Nadayar Enegesi, Prosper Otemuyiwa and Slim Momoh, Eden Life is known for catering to three home service sectors, namely, food, laundry and cleaning, via a mobile application.
The tech start-up, backed up by $1.4 million investors’ capital, has launched Homemade to provide home-cooked meals made at the consumer’s comfort with attention to details. Since its launch, Eden Life has delivered over 300,000 services, to more than 1,000 users with a 92% monthly retention rate. Remarkably, too, over 70% of the new users are onboarded by means of referrals. Homemade is creating a value-based ecosystem that helps young Nigerians maximize their time and at the same time create jobs for professionals within the food, delivery logistics and supply chain spaces.
While reflecting on the launch of Homemade, the co-founder and CEO of Eden Life, Enegesi, said: “As a tech-enabled food platform, Homemade prioritizes the homely feeling, care and attention to details in the delivery of great-tasting meals. At Eden Life, we are conscious of the way technology is improving the way we live. That is why we have launched Homemade as a solution to enabling Africans access convenient and affordable, quality food services.. .’’
The Food Production Lead, Eden Life, Orafiri Adoki explained how consumers can benefit maximally from using this service: .
“Homemade is a great option for people who want to eat tasty meals, and explore different cuisines or interesting recipes that introduce new ways to enjoy relatable meals we love! Take enjoyment to the next level with a Homemade subscription; schedule your meals, plan a budget, and get quality meals delivered to you with ease! l We’re changing the way we eat for the best.”
