Strategies to Success of Food Delivery Style, Summary of interesting highlights from 3 specialists at Smart Restaurant Plus event.

Collaboration of Makro Horeca Academy and the Department of Business Development, Ministry of Commerce, organized a training course 'Smart Restaurant Plus: restaurant management course to survive during the period of New Normal' to encourage SME entrepreneurs developing their own businesses smartly and increasing competitiveness, effective management with growth sustainability. The event lecture is on the topic of ‘Restaurant Strategies to Success with Food Delivery’ and summary of useful knowledge for everyone by 3 outstanding specialists as speakers accordingly:

From Pain Point of entrepreneurs to pay GP fees to foreign Food Delivery applications, Siam Commercial Bank has created 'Robinhood' as platform to help Thai society especially for small entrepreneurs along with sharing techniques to make customers buy repeatedly, sales upgrading, marketing technique and direction of food delivery trend.

In the past, Thai people normally liked to eat at restaurant. We live in the country that has a lot of food. They are not used to delivery service. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, many restaurants were in shock. They saw survival resolution was the delivery service. But they didn't know how to do it. A problem that most entrepreneurs found that lack of knowledge to deal with GP charge of foreign applications and cost management during New Normal.

To help society and entrepreneurs who were facing business problem, executive of Thai Commercial Bank had planned to create a Thai food delivery application. According to this sort of this business as 'Red Ocean' with highly competitiveness, it was twisted to be a CSR Project for society with investment value of more than 300 million baht to operate project of Robinhood. It was designed to be the alternative platform for small business with outstanding exception of GP charge and Cashless service including clearing money to restaurants within 24 hours to help them in cost circulation of restaurant operation.

Just only four months Robinhood currently has 757,026 users which are business of Home Kitchen signed up approximately 3 thousand restaurants as many people seeks to earn more via different ways from their present careers such as office workers, housewives, etc.

It’s necessary to focus on using correct type of packaging, using non-spill packaging or any that cause consumer health problems because it can create customer bad experience from the restaurant. In addition, food must have good quality, safety, appetizing and good taste.

There is costly challenge in application with tens of thousands of restaurants in it. Therefore, food images are an important part to attract customers to view and order our food. Restaurants that do not care about food image, will unfortunately lose their opportunity. You must present your food and restaurant to be appetizing and interesting. But the most important thing is it has to match from image to reality. Not that the picture and what the customer received does not match the cover because it is a matter of transparency and trust between buyers and sellers. Receiving unmatched look of food properly results in a bad experience and customer will never use your service again.

Presently, there are different and several groups on social media about food and restaurant styles. A technique that many people may not think of is to promote the restaurants through social media group, the effective way for your restaurant recognition, without any advertising fees. At one point, A trend of ordering salmon was booming in market, happened to be the establishment of 'Orange Fish Group' and 5 tons of salmon were sent through Robinhood. This is the best example to show how much powerful influence of social media group that you can use with a match group product that your can fit in.

While the competition is high, many restaurants are diligently keeping on promotion or given away discount. Speaking of our restaurant to this impact made us to do it as well. The most important thing is quality as we do a promotion to let our customers know the good quality of our products first maintaining this level, made no concern on customers getting away. Using trick of set order or discount at first purchase of customers on the result of marketing, but second purchase will come from their impression of product quality.

Many best-seller restaurants are rarely used to delivery service, how many branches they have, they could provide in neighbor area only. Food delivery order are booming across areas as the result of better online connection. Delivery is now one of marketing opportunity to support employee work performance and to increase number of incomes for fund circulation to facilitate employee management. Therefore, best-seller restaurant should not overlook this opportunity.

He will tell us about the starting point of 'Wechef', a start-up that helps facilitating sport for food trucks easily through smartphone regarding the charm and the opportunity of food trucks that cannot be found in general way.

Wechef was launched 3 years ago by the former beginning as a platform for cooking enthusiasts or those who want extra income. The food was sold through platform of Wechef, later we brought Pain Point of Food Truck entrepreneurs as a problem of finding spot to park for store settlement and reservation through application.

Report of Department of Business Development found that the volume of food trucks increased from 2,500 to 2,800 and reached a value of 3 billion baht in less than a year. After the pandemic of Covid-19, delivery service has grown significantly, but it is not yet comprehensive and suitable for all types of food. Food Truck has come to answer this point as they can run to any target audiences, changes parking spot for different locations. And the delivery stuff can simply pick up food in the truck as a kitchen is already in the car as addition of restaurant's Cloud Kitchen.

In the beginning, Wechef was chosen to become a partner of PT, petrol station, turned out that the response was beyond expectation because customers in petrol station got new experiences. In addition to 'We Chef Food Truck @ Oil Station' later, other channels were initiated. 'We Chef Food Truck @ Home' is for parking spot for restaurant settlement of Food Truck in villages with food caravan. 'We Chef Food Truck @ Market' is a management intermediary for Food Truck to park in various markets and 'We Chef Food Truck on Event' helps providing Food Truck to operate during events. It can be said that it has solved the problem of no parking for Food Truck entrepreneur as well.

The highlight of food trucks excluding capability to park anywhere for sales is Truck design as an important part because of need to get along with its product in limited space that requires every square inch worthwhile. Outstanding design is to draw people attention to see and come to use its service. However, it must be able to adjust suitably in every event and every target groups.

Restaurant entrepreneurs would give the importance of delicious and important as their most priority, but to become best-seller depends on other determinants. Variety of Food Truck is numerous from normal one to fine dining cooked by hotel chef or Omakase menu by former pilot. Story creating of Truck origin draws more attention to customers or else it will be just a normal food truck like others.

He told about the advantages of delivery service and how-to choose the right menu those meet the needs of restaurant and customer. Food Safety matters for a heedfulness entrepreneur and risk management that the delivery business has to face.

Before talking about what is suitable and not suitable, idea adjustment needs to be done for what is unnecessary to not put in restaurant menu on apps. Because customers will not know what to select as too many menus to choose. homepage must compound with recommended menu that we want to sell, look appetizing and make good profit with fine menu categories. Regarding to quality of taste remains since first process to handling to customers within half an hour with suitable menu. The different of dine-in and take-away is receiving products, as customers get direct meal right away means a responsibility lays on them. In contrast, responsibility is on entrepreneurs on delivery order. Some customers may try ordering our menu for the first time – if they didn’t receive well impression, they may not make any orders again and further to never return.

Most of Thai entrepreneurs barely concern of Danger Zone, a temperature period of 4-65 celsius of bacteria and microorganisms to growth. Any foods that have been left at mentioned temperature beyond 2 hours especially with humidity causing decomposition or risking to consumers. This is what delivery service entrepreneurs should concern of to prevent and reduce risk at most as they could. Luckily that these days we have certain packaging to handle in this point.

A period of growing bacteria and microorganisms is risk to consumers that entrepreneurs should be concerned of.

The Problem is cost management, there are plenty of good sales restaurants, but there are many shut down as well. Dealing with costs has to be realistic, and not too be positive. it needs to figure out cost structure, capital, rent, wages and total expenditures including explicit costs. Restaurants must balance food cost very and do not follow fortune-telling for operation. Supposed that our original business is Dine-in, which has to meet GP charge at any times. Risk management is used with port distribution and transforming delivery as Top Up to increase the number of sales not to lose it.

the risk by distributing the port well Let the in-store sales income cover all expenses. Then give delivery to be a top up that increases income Not to make a loss

People who invested first are often viewed only in a positive side, but they’d never prepared for disappointment. We suggest to at least view worst case for what could happen if your restaurant turned over to shut down. As some people may not fit in to run restaurant business but instead to invest for stock market. However, everyone can learn to do it by certain knowledge. We are supporting for everyone to get into restaurant industry as our profession of well-knowledge of food and our products rather than the sustainability of trend in market. Product is considered to be the most crucial part – if you had good products and good marketing, it is a good start, but if you had good marketing with bad production, customer would only come for once and never return. As many said that “paying to new customers is more expensive than keeping the old one” regarding to better consideration.