How this family-run restaurant increased delivery orders by 34,900% with one smart move

Hjh Maimunah Restaurant is a family business that spans three generations. In 1992, Madam Hjh Maimunah and her daughter, Madam Mahiran Abdul Rahman, opened their first outlet, a small cafe located within the Kampong Glam district.

Their quality kampung cuisine drew strong word of mouth, turning it into a household name. Ten years ago, Madam Mahiran started handing over the business to her three daughters, leaving them to helm the family restaurant.

When they first took over, Hjh Maimunah's only other revenue stream outside the restaurant was catering for corporate events and weddings. In 2014, Ms Maryam Didih, the youngest daughter, led a venture to offer a tingkat service.

The service involved delivering meals to families for iftar, the evening meal marking the end of the daily fast during Ramadan for Muslims. The restaurant relied on its own team of drivers to fulfil orders, which turned out to be a logistical nightmare.

"Ramadan tingkat is very time-sensitive," says the 25-year-old. "Muslims break their fast at around 7pm. If we're late, customers would get angry."

Without any visibility on where the drivers were, Ms Maryam found it difficult to resolve customer queries about the status of their delivery. She also had no way of verifying that meals were being delivered on time.

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That led to her scrapping the tingkat service, which had potential but was expensive to scale and difficult to manage. She decided to refocus her efforts on growing the core business.

For six years, the idea stayed dormant, only to re-emerge when the country went into lockdown.

A big change

Restaurants were among the worst hit by the pandemic. When the circuit breaker was implemented last year, Hjh Maimunah's dine-in and catering business plunged.

Given the uncertainty of when walk-ins and large-scale events would resume, Ms Maryam knew the business needed to evolve quickly.

The restaurant created an online storefront on food directory Oddle Eats and started providing home catering and bento meals. But instead of fulfilling its own orders, the restaurant chose Lalamove as its delivery partner. Amid the hectic changes the sisters were making, Ms Maryam was relieved that her parents stayed open to new ideas.

"As long as we were able to convince them it was feasible, they were okay," she says. "They're not as hands-on anymore because they've put their trust in us."

That trust was well-placed, evidenced by the receptiveness of customers to the new channel. As the number of delivery orders grew, she found the experience of placing orders with Lalamove significantly more seamless compared with managing her own fleet.

In the past, she had total obscurity over the status of deliveries and the location of her drivers. Now, she can easily schedule orders on the app and track all the deliveries in real time. Apart from the ease of managing the restaurant's logistics, Ms Maryam appreciated the responsiveness of Lalamove's accounts team.

"We were assigned an account manager, whom we can reach through WhatsApp," she says. "That's a big help for us, especially when we run into issues like missing items or late deliveries."

As their delivery business picked up, Ms Maryam considered reintroducing the Ramadan tingkat service, as the strong demand for deliveries and improved technology platforms gave the concept new impetus.

Having used Lalamove's services, she trusted that it would be able to seamlessly handle any uptick in deliveries. So when Ramadan began in mid-April, the restaurant relaunched its tingkat service. Response to the service was nothing short of astounding. Pre-Covid-19, its average volume of deliveries during the month of Ramadan peaked at 20. This time, the restaurant received 7,000 orders in the month - a 350-fold increase.

"It was very overwhelming. We didn't expect it," she says. The service was especially popular with busy parents who lacked the time to prepare their daily meals.

"At the time, we didn't think to put a cap on the orders. But the orders kept flowing in and we had to start placing limits," she adds.

With Lalamove, the restaurant could easily ramp up its delivery fleet to cope with the deluge of orders. This was crucial in enabling the business to dedicate its efforts to producing its dishes without compromising the high standards it was known for.

"Malay traditional food takes a long time to make. For example, our rendang can take four to six hours," she says. "My sisters and I were working 16 to 18 hours almost every day. At night, we would just go home, sleep and come back to work. Sometimes, we even stayed overnight at the restaurant."

Looking ahead

This Ramadan, Hjh Maimunah offered its tingkat service again. To the restaurant's surprise, demand increased by 30 per cent from the previous year.

"The eating culture has changed," says Ms Maryam. "People are now used to getting food delivered to their homes and having gatherings there instead."

The restaurant is looking to further diversify its business. It is now looking into supplying other F&B companies and creating its own line of retail products - with Lalamove as its delivery partner.

As consumer preferences rapidly evolve, the restaurant is constantly finding new avenues to grow. "As a small business, it's essential to be able to adapt quickly," she says.

To find out how Lalamove can help you grow your business, visit https://www.lalamove.com/en-sg/business