How to manage costs in the New Normal era? Normally, Thai people like to eat at the restaurant. We are a country with a lot of food. We are not used to delivery. When COVID-19 hit, restaurants were shocked. Every restaurant saw that delivery was the way to survive. But they didn't know what to do. The problem that most entrepreneurs have to face is that they don't know how to compete with the GP fees of foreign applications. They don't know how to manage costs in the New Normal era.
Robinhood Food Delivery, a Thai alternative for small shops It stands out by not charging GP.
Robinhood, an alternative platform for small shops In order to help society and Thai entrepreneurs who are facing problems, executives of Siam Commercial Bank have plans to create a Thai food delivery application.
But since this business is a highly competitive 'Red Ocean', it has been twisted into a CSR project for society, using approximately 300 million baht in capital to create the Robinhood project, aiming to be an alternative platform for small shops, with the highlight being that it does not charge GP fees and is a cashless app that does not use cash, including clearing money for shops within 24 hours to help shops have cash flow to operate their businesses. Currently, Robinhood has as many as 757,026 users within the period of operation of only 4 months. Of this number, there are approximately 3,000 Home Kitchen businesses that have applied, because this is an era where people need to find additional income in many ways, whether it is office workers, housewives, etc., all of them do Home Kitchen Delivery.
If customers have a bad experience, they will not order food from us again.
You should focus on using the right type of packaging. Use packaging that does not spill or cause health problems for diners because it will create a bad experience for your own restaurant. In addition, the food must be of high quality, safe, look delicious and taste good.
Food photos are important, but they must also be as advertised. In an application with tens of thousands of restaurants, when delivery competition is very high, food photos are an important part of attracting customers to view and order our food. Restaurants that do not pay attention to food photos will lose opportunities unfortunately. You have to present your food and restaurant in an appetizing and interesting way, but most importantly, it must be as advertised. It does not mean that the photos and what customers receive are not as advertised.
Because it is a matter of transparency and trust between the buyer and the seller. If the customer receives food that is not as described, it will result in a bad experience and they will not return to use the service again.
Social media groups are powerful. There are now many social media groups about different types of food and styles of restaurants. A technique that many people might not expect is to promote your restaurant in these groups, which is very effective and does not require any advertising costs. There was a time when people were ordering salmon, which led to the creation of the 'pla som' group, and 5 tons of salmon were delivered through Robin Hood. This case is a good example of how powerful social media groups are. Find the group that is right for your restaurant and use that channel.
Doing promotions is important, but maintaining quality is even more important. In a time when competition is high, when other shops are diligent in doing promotions and giving discounts, and our shop doesn't do the same, it may be difficult. But the most important thing is quality. We do promotions to let customers know that our product is good first, then we maintain good quality, and customers will stay with us. We use tricks like setting up sets, reducing prices, or whatever. It's like buying for the first time because of marketing, but buying a second time must be because we're impressed by the quality.
The storefront sells well, so you don't want to do delivery... You are losing an opportunity. Many stores that already sell well in the storefront often don't want to do delivery. But no matter how many branches you have, you can only provide service to people in that area. If nowadays online makes everything more connected, with food delivery orders across areas, delivery is a business opportunity that will help promote employees to work more, so that there is income coming into the store, and money to take care of employees. Therefore, stores that sell well should not overlook this opportunity, it would be a pity.
2. Mr. Winij Limcharoen, CEO & Founder, V-Chef Thailand
We Chef Food Truck @ Oil Station
From a platform for people who love cooking to an application for food truck entrepreneurs, We Chef was launched about 3 years ago. The original starting point was a platform for people who love cooking or those who want extra income to sell food through the We Chef platform. Later, the pain point of food truck entrepreneurs who don't know where to park their cars was used to solve the problem of finding parking and accepting reservations through the application.
The growth of food trucks in just 1 year. According to data from the Department of Business Development, the number of food trucks has increased from 2,500 to 2,800, and the value has reached 3 billion baht in less than a year. After the Covid crisis, which caused delivery to grow significantly, the delivery service is still not comprehensive and suitable for all types of food. Food trucks have come to meet this need because they can reach the target group, change the location of the shop to sell in many locations, and delivery staff can also pick up the food from the car because there is a kitchen in the car. This is an additional Cloud Kitchen for the shop.
No more problems with no place to sell because we have prepared various parking spots for you. At the beginning, We Chef was chosen to be a partner with PT gas stations. It turned out that the response was beyond expectations because those who came to use the gas station service also had a new experience. In addition to 'We Chef Food Truck @ Oil Station', later, other channels were added. 'We Chef Food Truck @ Home' is to park the car to sell food in various housing estates, bringing food caravans to housing estates. 'We Chef Food Truck @ Market' is a middleman managing the Food Truck to park and sell at various markets. And 'We Chef Food Truck on Event' helps find food trucks to provide services at events. It can be said that it helps solve the problem of no parking for food truck operators very well.
We Chef Food Truck on Event
The charming highlight of food trucks that general stores cannot provide. The charming highlight of food trucks, besides being able to park and sell anywhere, the design of the vehicle is also an important part. Because in addition to designing how to respond to the food sold in the limitations of space that must use every square inch to its full potential, it also has to be designed to stand out. People who see it want to come in and use the service. It also has to be able to change at all times, suitable for the location and event that it goes to, so that the price can be adjusted to be appropriate for the location and the target group.
A good truck is important, but you also need to create a good story. For those who run a restaurant, deliciousness is a matter of taste. Quality is also important, but to sell well, many factors such as these are combined. In addition, food trucks are diverse, from ordinary food to food trucks made by hotel chefs or Omakase food trucks made by ex-pilots. Creating an interesting story about the origin of our truck is one factor that can help attract customers. Otherwise, a good truck will become just another ordinary food truck.
3. Chef Job Natthinee Plodthong, Food Management Business Manager (Thailand), Siam Makro Public Company Limited
Don't put every menu on the platform. Before talking about what is suitable or not, we need to adjust our thinking that it is not necessary to put every menu sold at the shop on the app because there are a lot of menus, customers do not know what to choose to eat. When opening the first page, it must be the recommended menu that we want to sell, want people to eat and have good profit. We need to organize the menu well, taking into account the quality of deliciousness. Think about what menu is finished and delivered to the customer's home within half an hour and is still delicious. It is not the same as when the customer comes to buy from the shop and order to eat at home. Because when they receive it, it is their responsibility. When making food delivery, it is the responsibility of the entrepreneur. Some customers know and try ordering our food from delivery. If they have a bad experience from the first time, they may not order again and may not support our shop at all.
Food safety or 'Food Safety' is a matter that must be aware of. Most Thai business operators are generally not aware of it.
The 'Danger Zone' is between 4 and 65 degrees Celsius, which is a range that is conducive to the growth of bacteria and microorganisms. Any food left in this temperature range for more than 2 hours, especially food with a lot of moisture, will be at risk of spoiling or causing harm to the consumer. This is something that delivery operators will have to think about how to be careful and reduce the risk as much as possible. Fortunately, there is currently developed packaging that can help with this issue.
'Danger Zone'
It is a period that is conducive to the growth of bacteria and microorganisms. Risk to customers who eat, operators should be careful.
Manage costs in a non-idealistic way. The problem is cost management. There are many people who sell well but fail. Cost management must be done realistically and not in a non-idealistic way. You must think of the price structure, costs, rent, wages, all expenses, including all hidden costs. You must balance food costs well. Don't run a shop like a fortune teller. You must manage well. For example, if our original business is Dine-in, which has a rental fee, when it comes to GP costs, it will definitely hurt. You must manage the risk by diversifying your portfolio well so that the income from sales at the shop covers all expenses. Then, let delivery be a top-up that helps increase income, not cause a loss.
The product must be good...don't fall into the trap of being idealistic. People who invest in the beginning tend to only look at the positive side, but never keep their hearts open.
I would like to suggest that you look at the worst case scenario first, what will you do if you fail? Some people invest their last savings in opening a restaurant, but what will you do if you fail ? Some people may not be suitable for opening a restaurant, but are more suitable for investing their money in the stock market. However, everyone can learn, but you have to study carefully first. I would like everyone to enter the food business because we really know the food or products that we will sell, more than the market trends, because it will not be sustainable. The product is the most important thing. If you have a good product and good marketing, it will be like flying. But if you have good marketing but bad product, people will only come to your shop or buy from you once. Someone once said that "Paying to get a new customer is more expensive than keeping an old one. " I would like you to consider this matter carefully.
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