Finding a suitable food delivery platform can be tough when you are an F&B owner.
You have to consider the cost and commissions charged by the platform, sign-up requirements and other factors.
This article compares the key features of the 6 main food delivery platforms in Singapore, the alternative platforms that you can choose from, as well as the government schemes available to encourage F&B owners to adopt digitalization.
Consider the following factors before deciding on which platform you should use:
Different platforms suit different types of F&B outlets (high-end restaurant, a casual eatery or a hawker) and it is important to choose one that gives you the widest exposure to your target audience. For instance, if you own a hawker stall, you may want to list it on WhyQ as they specialize in hawker food deliveries.
Another factor to consider would be the audience reach. Platforms like foodpanda deliver to locations that are only approximately within a 2-3km radius from your restaurant, while other platforms such as Grabfood and Deliver.sg offer islandwide delivery.
The amount of reach you want to get can be decided from where your regular customers come from (you can check this on your customer data list).
With so many food delivery platforms on the rise, it is easy for customers to move to another platform that benefits them more.
Grab, for instance, has its own rewards system and subscription plans for users. foodpanda offers 15-minute PandaBox deals every time you log into your account.
Many of these platforms partner with restaurants and credit cards to offer a slew of promotions to keep customers engaged and returning.
Apart from weighing the benefits, put yourself in the shoes of your customers and see if the fees charged by the various platforms are worth it for the order amount.
Note that some platforms charge delivery fees, platform fees and small order fees differently according to minimum order, distance and the availability of the driver.
Find out if the partner support such as customer service, management systems and marketing is worth the price you will be paying.
You can do this by searching for customer reviews or trying it out yourself to have first-hand experience.
In terms of costs, tabulate the amount that you would earn from a sale and see if it is enough to cover the overheads (e.g. cost of food, salary, etc.).
Check out the merchant costs for the different platforms: Grab, Deliveroo, foodpanda, Oddle, WhyQ and Deliver.sg.
Apart from the above platforms, #savefnbsg, Dine In Movement, SG Dabao, #SupportLocalSG, Manyplaces and Kopi-19 offer free listings.
Platforms such as Take.sg let you build your own menu and list it on a WhatsApp Order Form for free and provide the convenience of direct communication with customers via a chat.
Online community groups such as Facebook’s Hawkers United 2020 allow you to post your food offerings for free.
To be clear, these platforms do not have their own fleets of delivery riders, and do not charge any service fees and commission.
Other platforms such as Foodhood and Hawkerpedia allow customers to place multiple orders within the same neighbourhood or hawker centre.
To support service providers (e.g. taxi drivers, migrant workers) and the vulnerable (e.g. old people, less privileged youths), platforms such as BySGForSG charge a small commission of 5% from F&B owners.
Recently, Enterprise Singapore established a Capability Development Pack with Grabfood, Deliveroo and foodpanda to help F&B owners optimize their online presence and gains from food delivery orders.
To qualify for this programme, you need to be a Singapore-registered F&B business (restaurant, hawker stall or cafe) that sells food prepared on-premise for immediate consumption.
For a one-time fee of $100 (valued at $1,500), F&B owners can receive capability building, marketing and insight-sharing support for one year from the application date.
Interested businesses can sign up with with Grabfood, Deliveroo and foodpanda directly before 31 December 2020.
The points stated above are non-exhaustive, but we want to ensure that you are informed of the options that are available to you. At the same time, we want you to get the most out of the price that you are paying to deliver your food offerings.
Before settling on a platform that you want to use, remember to try it out on your own to ensure that it aligns with the needs of your customers and business.
If you already have a platform in mind, you can also avail yourself of listings and other delivery platforms suitable for you that are listed in point four.
Be sure to support websites that help out other communities when you can, especially during this unprecedented period.
Lendingpot.sg operates a Business Loan Marketplace that allows an SME to connect to multiple lenders with just one application, allowing the SME to know who its prospective lenders are and the rates that they offer, in a very short time.
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Jennifer loves helping SMEs in their business growth journey. She is also an epicurean and has perpetual wanderlust. During the weekend, she weaves poems out of thin air and buries herself in books.
