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Food, beverage businesses minimize operational costs, boost revenue with cloud kitchens
The cloud kitchen concept has offered a helping hand to many F&B micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and even bigger culinary brands in terms of increasing their visibility and reach.
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t has been around six months since the first COVID-19 cases were recorded in Indonesia and social restrictions are still necessary. On the other hand, people have become more accustomed to the situation and have learned there are ways to make life a little easier.
Like other industries, the food and beverage (F&B) sector has suffered from the impacts of the pandemic. Social restrictions have led to a steep decline in dine-in customers and shifting to takeaway and delivery services is not always a walk in the park.
However, the cloud kitchen concept has offered a helping hand to many F&B micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and even bigger culinary brands in terms of increasing their visibility and reach. Furthermore, the concept has also helped lower F&B businesses’ costs, as it enables them to provide food for delivery only, eliminating rental fees, which can be a major burden.
Online delivery service GrabFood introduced its cloud kitchen concept named GrabKitchen in September 2018, and it has since proven to be a success, recently expanding to two new cities: Malang in East Java and Makassar in South Sulawesi.
Head of GrabKitchen, Sai Alluri, told The Jakarta Post in an exclusive interview on Sept. 11 that both Malang and Makassar were very large markets for GrabFood, and that the platform had received a lot of interest from GrabFood merchants wanting to expand in those cities.
“Even within Malang and Makassar, a lot of merchants are actually reaching out, asking about GrabKitchen, as they have had friends and colleagues in other cities who joined GrabKitchen as well,” said Alluri.
Customers can order food from 11 merchants at the GrabKitchen in Malang, located in Tlogomas.
The merchants include Ayam Bakar Taliwang Sasak Tulen, Ayam Geprek Moome, Kebab Bosman, Nasi Goreng 78 and Pempek Bujang Tuo, which offer chicken dishes, kebabs, fried rice and Palembang-style fish cakes, respectively.
Meanwhile, there are two GrabKitchen locations in Makassar in the Daeng Tata and Batua areas, with 10 merchants at each location.
According to Alluri, the GrabKitchen platform had a channel for brands to express their interest in joining, “And once we talk to them, and we understand from a data perspective whether they would be a good fit, we discuss with them the openings in our kitchens.”
In addition, GrabKitchen also uses its data and insights to understand which GrabFood merchants would have the most success with GrabKitchen.
To further help the merchants, beyond offering a space to operate, GrabKitchen takes care of the management of utilities within the facility, as well as marketing support within the app to reduce the initial business challenges merchants face when looking to set up new outlets or even their first business.
Throughout Indonesia, there are now 48 GrabKitchens across seven cities, each accommodating eight to 15 merchants. At the time of writing, more than 240 brands, including the renowned Geprek Bensu, Kopi Kenangan and Boga Group, have been accommodated at these kitchens.
Fajar, owner of Indonesian-style pancake joint Insinyur Martabak in Bandung, West Java, is one of the success stories that have come with the expansion of GrabKitchen across the archipelago.
“Since we were registered as a GrabFood partner, our sales performance hit above 300 percent growth for the first time,” Fajar said, explaining this his business’ skyrocketing success had come thanks to the increased exposure enjoyed through GrabFood.
After initially delivering his food himself, Fajar now also operates Insinyur Martabak from a GrabKitchen in Tubagus Ismail, Bandung.
Tyana is yet another success story. After starting Nasi Goreng Maut Seafood with her husband and opening their first outlet in West Jakarta, they took GrabKitchen’s offer to join in its location in Tendean, South Jakarta, and enjoyed an almost 200 percent growth in just the first month.
