KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — With the Covid-19 shutdown and all restaurants ordered to stop dine-in service, the F&B industry is turning towards takeaways and deliveries to stay afloat.
Aside from preparing the food and ordering supplies, eateries must now juggle managing takeaway orders.
This includes everything from collecting money up-front to organising the takeaway or delivery orders to customers. With limited manpower, it will be a struggle for smaller businesses like cafes or even hawkers.
Albert Wong hopes to ease these worries with app'etite by the other kitchen, an online ordering system.
Wong runs the other kitchen, an agency that specialises in building a larger online reach for their F&B clients.
The idea for such a system came to Wong when he saw so many eateries listing their menus, takeaway and payment conditions on his Facebook timeline. He explained, "It is a tedious process to handle everything."
The platform will list out the eatery's takeaway menu and allow orders to be taken online. Payments can be made via the website and Wong assures that the money will be transmitted to the operators within 48 hours.
Customers can list down their options, whether it is self collection or delivery at the required times. This helps the operators organise their operations easily.
According to Wong, online ordering systems with delivery services already exist but theirs is a little different.
In this crisis where every sen counts towards the survival of a business, joining an online platform can mean high costs that severely eat into incomes.
For instance, he adds, those with delivery services usually charge eateries anywhere from 30 to 35 per cent of the ordered item.
Instead, Wong is charging two per cent of the ordered item. An extra RM2 is also levied to cover the charges from the bill payment system.
"This will definitely help them more," said Wong.
Once an F&B establishment signs on, Wong estimates that it can take them less than a day to add their details on their website.
As app'etite by the other kitchen is a brand new initiative started since the movement control order came into effect, to date they have signed up a handful of eateries and two food suppliers.
You have Boon's Signature Roasted Pork for all your roast meat cravings. There is also Japanese food offered by Himawari at Taman Desa, Chitose at Solaris Mont Kiara and Momochan at Jaya One. For roast meats, pies and various cooked food, there's Frediani's Market & Deli in Bangsar.
If you prefer to cook at home, pick up various cheese, oil, pasta and even wine from Luretta D.O.P. You can also get instant noodles from Way Sauce that includes local favourite Penang prawn mee and even salted egg yolk noodles.
You can view the listings on http://app.theother.kitchen/#/ or talk to Albert Wong at 016-2260623 for a listing. Details on the other kitchen can be found at http://theother.kitchen
