Go-Jek, formally PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa, is getting more serious about bringing Go-Food to the next level after claiming to be the biggest on-demand food delivery service provider in the world after China.

Its newest innovation will focus on increasing brand awareness to food products of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) partnering with Go-Food.

Go-Jek’s chief commercial expansion Catherine Hindra Sutjahyo said on Friday that one form of expansion they would take was establishing more “Go-Food Festivals”, an elevated-concept food court that accommodates Go-Food merchants in selling their food products.

“This year, our target is to establish 100 more Go-Food Festivals in different cities across Indonesia,” she said.

Through Go-Food Festivals, Go-Jek wants to attract more foodies to enjoy its service and, at the same time, help Go-Food merchants expand their businesses.

“There are many SMEs that cannot afford new stalls or open new branches. With the festivals, we help them by providing them spaces to sell their products,” Catherine said.

So far, Go-Jek has organized two Go-Food Festivals located in Pasaraya Blok M, South Jakarta, and in Bale Binarum in Bogor, West Java, for at least a year. In the festivals, Go-Jek provides food stalls along with kitchen equipment for Go-Food merchants to utilize.

Another innovation that the startup will continue to develop this year is the Go-Resto feature, which could help merchants accelerate order processing and better manage their business.

Even though Go-Resto can only be accessed by Go-Food merchants so far, Go-Jek plans to develop the feature to be a different app.

“In the future, we hope SMEs or even home kitchens who want to be our partners can easily register themselves through Go-Resto. They just need to download the apps,” she said, adding that Go-Jek was still developing Go-Resto.

The year of 2018 alone is predicted to be a golden year for Go-Jek, after it successfully attracted some giant companies to invest, making it possible to realize its business expansion plans.

Earlier this year, Go-Jek gained additional funds from investors, including United States-based tech titan Alphabet Inc.’s Google, as well as local companies, including Astra International and PT Global Digital Niaga (GDN) as the owner of e-commerce platform Blibli.com.

Go-Jek cofounder Andre Soelistyo has said the fund, including a US$150 million investment from Astra, will be used to expand Go-Jek’s business in more cities as well as to develop its innovation and services.

Since its launch in 2015, Go-Food’s growth has never been in decline as it managed to become one of the most-used features in Go-Jek after its ride-hailing feature, Go-Ride. Within three years, Go-Food is now partnering with 125,000 food merchants across Indonesia, escalating significantly from only 10,000 merchants when it first started.

Go-Food’s unstoppable growth in food logistics was also in line with the growth of SMEs in the food industry. As of now, 70 percent of Go-Food merchants are categorized as SMEs.

Eatlah, a food SME offering salted egg-based dishes as its signature menu, is one of the Go-Food merchants that has been enjoying the hype.

Eatlah cofounder Charina Prinandhita said currently they could sell up to 500 boxes of Eatlah per day at only one outlet, increasing significantly from 20 boxes per day in 2016 when its business started.

“Now we have a total 11 outlets in Greater Jakarta, and this year we plan to open six more outlets, including in other cities like Bandung [West Java] and Surabaya [East Java],” she said. (roi)

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