Digital payment infrastructure is helping accelerate growth in Nigeria’s $11.09bn food service industry by improving transaction efficiency, expanding access to financial services and enabling businesses to operate with greater visibility, according to a new industry report.

The study by fintech company Moniepoint examines the evolution of Nigeria’s food service sector over four decades, highlighting how the adoption of real-time payments, business management tools and data-driven financial services is reshaping how restaurants, quick-service operators and other food businesses operate.

The report, titled “What It Takes to Feed Nigeria Every Day: The Payment Story Behind Its Food Service Industry,” said digital infrastructure is helping move the sector away from a largely cash-based operating model towards a more connected commercial ecosystem.

“The sector’s most persistent payment problems, including settlement delays, unreliable confirmation, unchecked theft and inaccessible credit, have been resolved by real-time digital infrastructure, turning food commerce into an $11.09bn market in 2025,” the report stated.

Nigeria’s food service market has expanded from traditional restaurants and eateries into a broader digital economy that now includes food delivery platforms, cloud kitchens, and technology-enabled restaurant operations. The sector is projected to reach $19.31bn by 2030, according to projections cited in the study.

“The real competitive question today is how deeply that payment infrastructure is woven into the way the business actually runs day to day,” Group Chief Executive Officer of Moniepoint Inc., Tosin Eniolorunda, commented. Payments are connected to inventory, inventory to recipes, recipes to procurement, procurement to credit, and credit to growth plans,” he added.

For decades, food businesses in Nigeria relied heavily on cash transactions, creating operational difficulties for companies managing multiple outlets. The report noted that operators faced challenges including delayed settlements, difficulty confirming payments, cash-handling risks and limited visibility into daily business performance.

The emergence of bank transfers helped reduce dependence on physical cash but introduced new problems, particularly around payment confirmation during busy periods. According to the study, manual verification processes could slow transactions during peak periods when demand was highest, including festive seasons such as Christmas, New Year celebrations, and Eid.

Digital payment systems have increasingly addressed these bottlenecks by providing instant transaction confirmation and creating records of business activity. For small and medium-sized food operators, these records are becoming valuable financial data that can support access to banking services and credit.

Nigeria’s small business sector has historically faced challenges in accessing formal financing due to collateral requirements, including property assets.

The report said food businesses have often struggled to secure expansion capital despite having strong daily sales because lenders lacked reliable information about their cash flows.

Digital payment histories are changing that model by allowing businesses to demonstrate revenue patterns through transaction records.

The International Finance Corporation has previously estimated a significant financing gap among Nigerian micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, with women-owned businesses particularly affected by barriers to accessing capital.

Moniepoint’s study highlighted that women account for 86.8 per cent of businesses in Nigeria’s accommodation and food services sector, making it one of the country’s most female-dominated industries.

By using transaction activity rather than only physical assets, digital finance platforms are creating new ways to assess business performance and creditworthiness. The shift is also moving beyond payment acceptance into broader business management.

Moniepoint said tools such as Moniebook and Orda are helping food businesses integrate payments, inventory management, procurement, and operational reporting into a single digital system. The company said restaurants increasingly operate like “mini-factories”, where managing ingredients, production costs and sales data is critical to profitability.

By connecting sales records with inventory information, businesses can better track stock movement, reduce operational losses, and improve decision-making. The report said the integration of payment and business management tools could help smaller food operators build more sustainable businesses and scale beyond single locations.

The growth of digital payments in Nigeria has accelerated in recent years as businesses and consumers increasingly adopt electronic transactions. Moniepoint said food and beverage businesses represent the second-largest merchant category on its platform, behind retail.

The company also reported a 2,823 per cent increase in quick-service restaurant terminal usage following increased adoption of cashless payment methods. The study found that payment activity in the sector typically peaks during lunch hours, between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., with evening transactions rising significantly compared with early morning activity.

Online food delivery businesses show different patterns, with transaction activity remaining elevated later into the night. Nigeria’s food service sector remains highly fragmented, with thousands of small operators serving local communities.

The report argued that digital infrastructure is helping these businesses become more visible, measurable, and connected to the wider financial system.