I’ve been pretending that I’m okay, but honestly, this is one of the hardest periods I’ve faced since starting my business. There’s an ongoing reconstruction on my street and it is terrible. Cars can barely park. People can barely walk into the street. Someone even fell into a manhole and injured his head. That’s how bad it is. Every day, customers get to the entrance of the street, see the situation, and turn back. Not because they don’t want the food, but because getting to us has become a struggle. As if that wasn’t enough, Uber has left Nigeria. A lot of the deliveries we were managing to do have been affected. Customers who were comfortable paying Uber delivery fees are now faced with much higher delivery costs from other options, and many simply can’t justify paying that much for delivery. So we’re stuck in a situation where customers can’t easily walk in, and many can’t afford the delivery fees either. The painful part is that nothing is wrong with the food. Nothing is wrong with the service. We still show up every day, cook fresh meals, and do our best. But factors completely outside our control are affecting us heavily. Some days, it feels frustrating. Some days, it feels unfair. And some days, I honestly don’t know what to do except keep showing up and hope things get better soon. If you’ve supported ChopMide through this period, thank you. It means more than you know.