Komsan Chiyadis
GrabFood delivery-partner, Thailand
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How top drinks brands on Grab make sure their products arrive still chilled
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September 8, 2023
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Singapore
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Thailand
Drinks are one of the most popular food order types on Grab. Across Southeast Asia, coffee, bubble tea, and coconut shakes constantly top GrabFood’s charts.
Mr Coconut, a Singapore beverage chain popular for its coconut shakes, has seen its orders growing in recent years as consumers embraced delivery platforms. The company’s co-founder, Lucas Lin, explains that with delivery becoming a significant channel, they had to adapt the way their outlets handled both in-person retail orders and deliveries coming in.
Its stores are typically manned by just a single person or a couple of staff, who have to monitor orders coming in on delivery apps, take in-person orders at the counter, and make the drinks. When delivery-partners arrive for pick-up, they have to make sure they’re handing over the correct order.
Mr Coconut had to figure out how to time drinks ordered in-person with those for delivery.
“It was very labour-intensive in the early days,” Lin said, as the company figured out how to time drinks ordered in-person with those for delivery. Ice-blended drinks are particularly challenging for deliveries, because the store has to aim to have it freshly made and still cold when the delivery-partner arrives.
(Read more: Our delivery-partners helped redesign our GrabFood delivery bag)
On Grab’s end, we upkeep that standard with the help of predictive analytics, to estimate the preparation time each outlet needs, so we can time the commute for our delivery-partner, achieving that “just in time” handover when they arrive.
To accurately predict the time taken for food preparation across different types of orders, we have an in-app feature that prompts merchant-partners to mark orders as “ready” once food is ready for collection. Over time, the system will also learn to differentiate orders that require a delivery-partner to come quickly from those that can wait a little longer.
Reaching new customers on delivery platforms
Asian bubble tea chain, Fire Tiger, identified early on that delivery platforms were an avenue for new customers that haven’t seen their stores in person. The Thai chain operates in its home country, as well as Indonesia, Cambodia, and the Philippines.
Nunthanut Eursirisub, who owns Fire Tiger’s parent Ruay Sabai Sabai Co, said: “If your customers cannot see you, you’ve got to try harder to reach them.
“We had to adapt to sales platforms that serve people’s lifestyles and behaviours, and the convenience factor was undeniably something that came about during Covid-19—and lasted.”
That meant making delivery services central to the stores’ output. Early on, they had to troubleshoot some aspects, such as packaging.
“Drinks are harder to carry and send especially on motorbikes,” said Eursirisub. So Fire Tiger came up with new no-spill packaging options.
The brand’s sweet purple potato balls are another product that needed special consideration for delivery. For dine-in, they’re served in a dim sum bamboo steamer. But for delivery, the company designed a food grade paper bag fitted with a rigid cover that the company designed for it.
This helps protect the dish dust during transportation while avoiding turning soggy so it can arrive in optimal condition to the eater at home.
F&B outlets should think of delivery beyond just a marketing channel, added Eursirisub. Delivery allows operators the data for supply chain management.
Merchants on Grab have access to menu insights such as best selling items, to help them plan their supply orders. They can see customers filed into segments such as new, repeat, and infrequent, to understand what items bring customers back.
They can see operational issues flagged too. If there’s high average driver waiting time, it can point out inefficiencies in the kitchen, or that staff aren’t marking items as ready for delivery. An unusually high number of cancelled or timed-out orders, could reveal that service staff aren’t receiving orders or acting upon pending orders quickly enough.
For marketing, the merchant portal highlights top performing offers, to point out promotional items or coupon offers which have been more successful at attracting consumers.
“Digital tools help us forecast demand accurately. Data analytics also help with logistics and inventory, and it’s something we pay attention to every day to lower costs while maximising profits,” Eursirisub said.
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Komsan Chiyadis
GrabFood delivery-partner, Thailand
COVID-19 has dealt an unprecedented blow to the tourism industry, affecting the livelihoods of millions of workers. One of them was Komsan, an assistant chef in a luxury hotel based in the Srinakarin area.
As the number of tourists at the hotel plunged, he decided to sign up as a GrabFood delivery-partner to earn an alternative income. Soon after, the hotel ceased operations.
Komsan has viewed this change through an optimistic lens, calling it the perfect opportunity for him to embark on a fresh journey after his previous job. Aside from GrabFood deliveries, he now also picks up GrabExpress jobs. It can get tiring, having to shuttle between different locations, but Komsan finds it exciting. And mostly, he’s glad to get his income back on track.
