Why Eating Out Still Feels Expensive Despite Falling Food Prices -By Isaac Asabor

Across Nigeria’s major markets, a quiet but significant shift has been unfolding over recent months. The prices of staple food items, the very commodities that once pushed household budgets to breaking point, have been easing. Traders in Lagos’ Mile 12, Enugu’s Ogbete Market, Ibadan’s Bodija, Abuja’s Wuse and Utako, and regional hubs across the North and South confirm what many consumers had hoped to hear: food prices are finally correcting themselves.

Rice, beans, garri, yam, and other essential staples that soared during the peak of inflation are now selling at noticeably lower prices. Improved supply from producing regions, better logistics, and reduced panic buying have helped push costs downward.

Ordinarily, this development should bring relief, especially for Nigerians who rely heavily on ready-made meals from restaurants, canteens, bukas, and caterers due to work schedules, long commutes, and rising urban pressures. However, that relief has not come. Instead, a new wave of frustration is building.

Paradoxically put, while markets are calming, food vendors are not. Consumers across cities and semi-urban areas say they are stuck paying “inflation-era prices” for meals, even though the cost of raw ingredients has dropped significantly. To many, the refusal of restaurants and caterers to adjust menu prices feels like a calculated effort to squeeze extra profit at a time when people are already struggling.

To not a few consumers engaged in staggered parley by this writer, the unanimity in their responses is that “It doesn’t add up anymore”, despite the drop in the prices of foodstuffs.

In Lagos, banking Officer Maxwell Ikhiroda says he cannot reconcile the difference between what he sees in the market and what he pays for a plate of food.

“We all went through the hardship together. When foodstuff became expensive, restaurants increased prices immediately. Nobody argued because we saw what was happening,” he said. “But now that rice, beans, yam, everything, is cheaper, why is a plate of food still more expensive than a few months ago? It doesn’t make sense.”

His sentiment echoes that of many office workers forced to eat out daily because of demanding schedules. They say food vendors are quick to cite rising costs but conveniently ignore market realities when the situation improves.

In Ogun State, school administrator Emmanuel Bodunrin sees the trend as deliberate manipulation. “I shop every weekend. I know what the real prices are,” he said. “Foodstuff is cheaper, yet these restaurants keep acting like the market is still on fire. This is not oversight, it’s intentional.”

Without any iota of exaggeration, market prices are dropping, the NBS data and lived experiences of not a few consumers, including that of this writer, back it.  Field checks across major markets support the consumers’ claims.

A 50kg bag of rice that touched record highs months ago has dropped by several thousands of naira. Beans, especially premium varieties such as oloyin and big white, have retreated from the panic-driven highs of the inflation surge.

Yam tubers, which became prohibitively expensive earlier in the year, now sell at far more reasonable rates as supplies stabilized.

Garri, one of Nigeria’s most consumption-heavy staples, has recorded one of the steepest declines.

These price adjustments point to a supply chain that is gradually healing and a market returning to balance.

However, while consumers can now buy ingredients more cheaply, buying cooked food remains an entirely different story. Some seemingly high-end restaurants in Lagos have the prices of various menus rising fast, and falling slowly, or not at all.

In fact, Nigeria’s food service sector has long been known for a pattern that economists call “downward price rigidity.” Prices go up quickly when costs increase, but rarely come down when the market stabilizes.

It will be recalled in this context that during the inflation wave, food vendors frequently cited, rising ingredient costs, petrol and diesel price spikes, transportation challenges, higher cooking gas prices and increased staff wages, even as taxes, levies, and overheads were cited as reasons for high cost of menus offered then across restaurants, and even roadside Bukas.

Surprisingly, consumers did not contest these explanations because market conditions were painfully obvious. Now that core ingredients are cheaper, diners say the same vendors are hiding behind operational costs instead of recalibrating their menu prices.

Some restaurant operators argue that the fall in foodstuff prices represents only a tiny fraction of their full cost structure. They claim other expenses have refused to come down.

A restaurant manager in Abuja, who preferred not to be named, said: “People look at only foodstuff. They do not know what it costs to keep a business running: generator fuel, gas, salaries, rent, and taxes. Those things have not reduced.”

However, consumers insist that this argument is half-truth at best. They point out that these same operational challenges existed during the inflation peak, yet vendors still raised prices directly in response to foodstuff costs. The expectation now is a proportional response.

“Operational challenges are not new,” said Lagos civil servant Ogechukwu Eke. “We heard those explanations before. However, you cannot tell me that when rice is cheaper and beans is cheaper, you still cannot reduce the price of basic meals. To make matters worse, the portions are shrinking while the prices remain the same.”

Beyond the unchanged prices, there is growing anger over what many describe as “portion manipulation.” Diners say meals have become smaller, less consistent, or visibly reduced.

“It’s double punishment,” Ogechukwu added. “You’re paying old prices for smaller food. It’s unfair.” Students, artisans, civil servants, corporate employees, and traders share her experience across the country.

Without sounding acerbic in this context, the consumer market sector in Nigeria is unarguably a sector without regulation.

Economists argue that the absence of regulatory pressure encourages arbitrary pricing.

Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has intervened in clear cases of price gouging before, especially during national emergencies. However, the restaurant and catering sector has largely operated with minimal monitoring.

Dr. Paul Achonu, an economist, says that while restaurants are not legally obligated to lower prices as there is a strong moral responsibility tied to fairness.

“When market prices fall, consumers expect some relief,” he said. “Businesses cannot apply market forces selectively. If you raised menu prices because ingredients were expensive, then fairness demands you adjust downward when those costs fall.”

Without a doubt, eating out is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity.

Longer working hours, hectic commutes, rising traffic delays, and the demands of city life have pushed millions of Nigerians into dependence on ready-made meals. For many, restaurant food is not a choice, it is a survival mechanism.

When vendors refuse to adjust pricing, the people most affected are workers with long hour’s students commuters stuck in traffic, even with small business owners and low-income households.

These groups spend a significant portion of their income on daily meals, making stagnant prices devastating.

In Benin City, textile trader Edith Osaghae says vendors are worsening an already harsh economic environment. “Everything cannot be blamed on inflation,” she said. “If the ingredients are cheaper, why should we still be paying the same as before? We are all struggling. Vendors should not add more pressure.”

In Uyo, mechanic Samuel Udoh said many people are already changing their habits. “People are cooking more at home and cutting down on eating out,” he said. “When things were tough, restaurants changed prices immediately. Now that things have improved, they pretend not to notice.”

Civil servant James Isede summed up what many Nigerians now feel. “The fall in market prices should bring some relief,” he said. “But the refusal of restaurants to adjust has created a new wave of frustration. This is no longer just economics; it is about fairness and respect for the people.”

He warns that if vendors continue to ignore market realities, distrust between consumers and food businesses will deepen.

Nigeria’s economic challenges are far from over. Households are still juggling high transport costs, rising rent, and shrinking incomes. Consumers are not asking for drastic reductions in restaurant prices, they are asking for fairness, transparency, and a reflection of market trends.

Until food vendors show a willingness to adjust, many Nigerians will continue feeling cheated every time they step into a restaurant.

In addition, in a country already struggling with rising living costs that is a burden the average citizen can no longer afford.