Nigeria’s restaurant industry is seeing a new wave of homegrown brands transforming traditional meals into scalable food businesses. From amala and abula to Ofada rice and everyday Nigerian favourites, these entrepreneurs are building restaurant concepts around familiar flavours, accessible dining and consistent customer experiences. Their journeys demonstrate how local cuisine can become the foundation for ambitious businesses within Nigeria’s growing food service industry.
1. Ibigbemi Oloruntobi (Item7Go)
Ibigbemi Oloruntobi is the founder of Item7Go, a Nigerian quick service restaurant brand that began as a small food stall near the University of Ilorin in 2012. A Physics graduate, Oloruntobi identified an opportunity to provide students with affordable, filling meals and gradually expanded the business beyond its university origins. Item7Go has since grown into a multi branch restaurant business serving customers across several Nigerian cities, including Lagos, Ilorin and Ibadan. Its growth demonstrates how an everyday food concept can develop into a recognisable restaurant brand through affordability, convenience and expansion.
2. Alhaji Lukman Alamin Walter (Yakoyo Abula Joint and Restaurant)
Alhaji Lukman Alamin Walter is the entrepreneur behind Yakoyo Abula Joint and Lounge, a Nigerian food business built around traditional meals and the enduring popularity of abula, a combination of amala, ewedu, gbegiri and stew. The brand represents the commercial potential of familiar Yoruba cuisine, bringing traditional food into a contemporary restaurant setting. In April 2026, Yakoyo opened an outlet known as Lounge 107 in Ikeja, Lagos, marking another development in its expansion within the local food and hospitality market.
3. Sanni Sheriff (ILÉ IYÁN)
Sanni Sheriff, also known as Sannikayz, is the founder and CEO of ILÉ IYÁN, a Nigerian restaurant brand built around pounded yam and traditional African cuisine. His entrepreneurial journey began with a small food business while he was a student at the University of Lagos, before evolving through catering, mobile food services and restaurant operations. ILÉ IYÁN has developed a distinctive identity around Nigerian culinary heritage, presenting traditional dishes within a dedicated restaurant experience. Sheriff’s ambition is to grow the brand into a major African restaurant name while introducing more audiences to the country’s food culture.
4. Tobi Fletcher (Ofadaboy)
Tobi Fletcher is the founder of Ofadaboy, a Nigerian food and hospitality brand inspired by Ofada rice and the culinary heritage of Ogun State. Founded in 2009, the business draws on Fletcher’s family connection to Ofada town, where generations of his family were involved in cultivating the rice variety associated with the brand. Ofadaboy has grown beyond restaurant dining into outdoor catering and event services, positioning Nigerian cuisine as an experience for both private and corporate audiences. Through its focus on indigenous ingredients, presentation and cultural identity, the brand seeks to bring Nigerian food traditions to a wider market.
5. Ajibola Salako (Amala Ibadan)
Ajibola Abigail Salako is the co-founder and CEO of Amala Ibadan, a Nigerian food service business built around the popularity of amala and other traditional dishes. She entered the food industry in 2020, co-founding the company with her husband and bringing an entrepreneurial approach to the development of a local food brand. According to her profile on the Global Entrepreneurship Network, Amala Ibadan has expanded to seven branches and employs more than 200 people. Its growth illustrates how a restaurant centred on a familiar regional dish can develop into a structured business with the potential to reach customers across a wider market.
Methodology
This selection considers founders building recognisable Nigerian restaurant brands around local cuisine, with attention to business development, restaurant expansion, distinctive food concepts and efforts to bring traditional dishes to broader audiences. The list includes businesses with visible growth and an identifiable founder or leadership figure.
