A lawsuit filed before the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal of Nigeria against the food delivery platform Chowdeck, instituted this month by claimant Dolapo Adedeji, alleges that the company misleads consumers by inflating food prices without official price disclosure.
The claimant alleges that Chowdeck lists food items at rates 25% to 50% higher than restaurant prices, presenting these as base prices but failing to disclose the embedded markup of the platform.
The claimant argues that consumers are being deceived into paying premium prices tag under the guise of standard restaurant pricing.
Counsel for the claimant, Abdulrahman Akinyemi, stated that the lawsuit is targeted at ensuring compliance and transparency for consumers to make well informed decisions:
“The goal here is not merely to secure compensation. It is to prompt industry-wide policy reflection, strengthen compliance practices, and foster a culture of pricing transparency that enables consumers to make informed decisions”
While Chowdeck has not responded to the allegation, stakeholders in the food delivery service argue that these markups sustain delivery infrastructure and provide living wages for riders, which the food delivery platform has been praised for in the past. They stressed that the price discrepancies are a common global practice used to offset high platform commissions and preserve thin margins for vendors.
The lawsuit exposed the gap between in-store prices and app-listed prices. The Tribunal is asked to determine if undisclosed markups constitute material omission or misleading representation under Section 115 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act.
