Author’s Blurb: There’s no doubt that F&B businesses understand the importance of deliveries right now. But I’ve often wondered—how are small-time ones supposed to compete with those that are already so popular on other delivery marketplaces?
Many F&B businesses still struggle to plan ahead amidst the uncertainty surrounding the period of the Movement Control Order (MCO).
Upon taking notice of this, POS system startup StoreHub got to working on a solution that would bring on board more Malaysian F&B small businesses to the idea of a streamlined delivery system.
On March 17, they revealed Beep Delivery, a solution that integrates with StoreHub’s own software to allow registered F&B users to run a delivery system with the help of logistics providers.
Now, they’re rolling out another feature in the favour of these businesses—in the form of a food delivery directory.
Increasing Visibility For Smaller Restaurants & Cafes
The team came up with FoodDelivery.com.my to make it easier for consumers to find smaller F&B stores that may not exist on other delivery marketplaces.
The motivation to do this came from their own users from Beep Delivery.
Although many of their lives were made easier with Beep Delivery’s integration, getting the word out there that they were delivering in the first place proved difficult for some restaurant owners.
“As restaurants transitioned to takeaways and deliveries, we saw that businesses really struggled to drive traffic to their online presence,” said Wai Hong founder and chieftain of StoreHub.
These include outlets that are not listed on Foodpanda, GrabFood or other big marketplaces.
Or, they’ve somehow gotten lost in the crowd with more well-known chains overshadowing them.
So, they launched their own alternative to help smaller businesses shine.
At the moment of writing, Wai Hong tells us that FoodDelivery.com.my has around 150 active stores—with 300 more being keyed in.
Navigating The Platform
For all those worried about incurring more fees, don’t fret. FoodDelivery.com.my lets you register your business for free.
This is possible as their main source of monetisation comes from existing users of the StoreHub POS system, on which they already have around 14,000 registered users who pay a recurring subscription fee.
You don’t even need to be registered on Beep Delivery. All you need is to specify (through a Google Forms submission) the preferred mode of delivery.
If you’re not registered StoreHub/Beep Delivery users, users who stumble upon your listing can either look you up on other delivery marketplaces (Grab, Foodpanda, etc.) or place orders through your online website.
If you are registered StoreHub/Beep Delivery users, users can immediately place an order from the directory.
Here To Stay?
Although this initiative was born from the MCO, Wai Hong believes that the outbreak is a catalyst to a huge change in consumer behaviour for the coming months and years.
“Moving forwards, consumers are going to be doing a lot more deliveries and takeaways—and restaurants are going to have to adapt to this.”
Even though they don’t have a hard target in mind, Wai Hong told us that he’s expecting over 2,000 restaurants to be listed by next month.
All of this, of course, he attributed to the helpful and strong community spirit of those involved in the Malaysian SME ecosystem.
“We’ve been very lucky to be overwhelmed with offers to support this initiative from many large companies with huge databases and reach,” he expressed.
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At a quick glance, it would seem that options are currently lacking, with the majority of restaurants already listed being in KL, Petaling Jaya and Mont Kiara.
But as Wai Hong said, the team is working hard to get more restaurants nationwide on board, so we can expect to see the platform becoming more populated as time passes.
Spreading the word can also help more restaurants get put on the directory, and the team has made the process easy with a Google Form registration.
Bottom Line: As time progresses, I’d be excited to see what other features get integrated on the directory—maybe the option to take me directly to a vendor on GrabFood, etc.? Nonetheless, this is definitely a good initiative for lesser known F&B businesses not already on GrabFood or foodpanda to get some visibility.
- You can read more about other Malaysian startups we’ve written about here.
Featured Image Credit: StoreHub