SINGAPORE – 19 May, 2021 – Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the food delivery industry across Southeast Asia experienced unprecedented growth in 2020. According to Statista, 71% of Singaporeans used online food delivery services more often during the pandemic. Following re-tightened restrictions on dining out in Singapore, food delivery appears set to stay as a key driver of F&B in the region, with the number of users in Southeast Asia expected to reach 117.3 million users by 2024.
iCHEF, the region’s leading POS system and end-to-end F&B consultancy service, looks to support restaurants who need an operational boost to keep up with consumer demand in a post-pandemic, delivery-driven era. Through its latest integrations with major F&B technological platforms like GrabFood and Xero, iCHEF’s omni-platform solution now allows F&B operators to benefit from a seamless and streamlined end-to-end process from order to delivery, all from a singular iPad screen.
Single Screen, One Menu with Omni-Platform Integration
Up to 600 F&B owners in Singapore and Malaysia currently employ iCHEF’s accessible and affordable technology offerings, including household names like Old Chang Kee and Ben & Jerry’s. In fact, businesses are able to see up to a tenfold increase in time efficiency when managing orders on the iCHEF platform, freeing up time and energy to focus on producing quality meals and service. Based on iCHEF’s data, Singapore users of iCHEF’s technology saw a 29.5% YoY revenue increase in February 2021 while most of the sector buckled under the pressure of the pandemic over the past year.
The integration of GrabFood into iCHEF’s POS system enables all customers to connect their GrabFood merchant account with iCHEF, with real-time updates of menu changes and item availability synced on one singular screen. With only one menu to manage, GrabFood orders can now be sent directly to restaurant kitchens – down from 1 to 2 minutes per order, it now takes only 5 seconds for each delivery order to reach the kitchen. This not only saves precious time for staff, but minimises human error from manually inputting each order, allowing restaurants to offer a faster and better delivery experience for customers.
“With the integration, we can just go onto the POS system to see any changes reflected immediately, eliminating a lot of the back-and-forth between my team and Grab. Now that everything is on one device, we don’t have to refer to multiple devices, making life easier and saving us a lot of time overall,” said Jamie Koh, Founder, The Beast.
This follows iCHEF’s recent addition to Xero’s App Marketplace, providing back office automation for F&B businesses. The automatic integration of financial data from the POS system into Xero enables a faster bank reconciliation experience, including an easier management of labour costs associated with using different third-party delivery services and a diverse selection of consumer payment methods.
“Integrating with platforms like GrabFood and Xero expands the iCHEF’s ecosystem and shows our commitment to create the best restaurant management experience for F&B businesses across the region. iCHEF’s goal is to give every restaurant an additional secret sauce; technology that scales their food business,” said Jay Teo, International Director of iCHEF Singapore.
A Platform of Platforms
Across the region, iCHEF has collaborated with tech giants among the likes of UberEats, Facebook, Google and Line. The first F&B solution in the region to adopt such an omni-platform POS strategy, this underscores iCHEF’s persistent push for innovation and evolution with the intention of offering the best possible digital solution for F&B operators to stay competitive in this age of food delivery.
Starting out as a F&B business, iCHEF recognises the importance of having technology designed specifically for F&B businesses. Through every new partnership, the iCHEF ecosystem aims to be a ‘platform of platforms’, bringing together complementary platforms into one effective and sustainable solution with capabilities to support F&B businesses on all fronts – accounting operation, revenues and profits, inventory management, delivery services, overall operating efficiency and more. With many more partnerships and milestones lined up ahead, iCHEF continues to bring next-gen technology to restaurants in Singapore, Malaysia and the rest of the region.
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About iCHEF
iCHEF is a leading Point-of-Sales system provider and end-to-end consultancy that offers an entire ecosystem of F&B resources and solutions catered to SMEs. Having worked with over 12,000 existing F&B business owners, veteran hawkers and entrepreneurs, iCHEF has utilized its wealth of experience to provide personalised assistance to F&B outlets. With its roots starting in F&B itself, iCHEF’s services are ‘by restaurants, for restaurants’, providing tailored services and increasing the accessibility of enterprise-level management and reporting technology to SMEs – bringing the future of F&B directly to business owners.
About GrabFood
Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading super app, launched GrabFood regionally in May 2018, bringing a wide range of dining options to consumers, while providing more income opportunities for local merchants and delivery-partners. Today, GrabFood is the #1 most often used food delivery platform in Southeast Asian countries according to a market survey by Kantar. In 2020, GrabFood announced a merchant platform that will provide tools for F&B merchant-partners of all sizes to expand their businesses. Beyond food delivery, Grab caters to end-to-end business needs that spans procurement, marketing, finance and business management.
