F&B procurement platforms think out of the box for their clients
Singapore
FROM turning restaurants into grocery pick-up points to setting up a cross-border platform to source for food, two F&B procurement platforms here are helping food suppliers and restaurants affected by the Covid-19 crisis.
For instance, Zeemart is in talks with some 25 restaurants to understand the feasibility of making it possible for them to sell a selection of groceries at their outlets.
The idea is to enable consumers who are taking away food from a restaurant to also pick up some groceries, resulting in additional sales for both the restaurant and the food supplier. Neeraj Sundarajoo, Zeemart's co-founder, said they will pilot this with about 100 restaurants "soon".
Revenues in the F&B sector have been hit hard amid the virus outbreak, especially with stricter safe-distancing measures banning dining in restaurants till May 4. Mr Sundarajoo said 10 per cent of the more than 1,000 buyers on Zeemart have not ordered any food supplies for the past month, a sign that the restaurants may be shuttered, temporarily or otherwise. Restaurants tend to place fresh orders three to four times a week. This means some food suppliers on the other end are also affected by the drop in demand.
Restaurants struggling to make ends meet may also delay payments to suppliers, putting pressure on the latter's cash flows. According to Zeemart, more than three quarters of its customers were not able to pay their suppliers on time in March.
Zeemart is reaching out to some buyers with the idea of a "financial clinic" to help restaurants map out expenses and restructure operations.
That way, the restaurants may also have a better chance of securing financing from the third-party financial providers Zeemart works with. It aims to help at least 500 F&B businesses in the next three months.
On the other hand, SGeBiz, which runs procurement platform EzyProcure - where most users hail from the F&B sector - is tackling supply chain disruptions faced by some food suppliers. Due to export restrictions and lockdowns in certain countries also experiencing the pandemic, some suppliers gave feedback that it has become a challenge for their imports to enter Singapore, said SGeBiz co-founder Edmund Nathan.
In response, the company and a few partners sped up the development of an online platform where food manufacturers and suppliers can source and trade goods internationally, widening their range of sources.
The platform was to have taken six to nine months to complete, but is expected to go live in May. "Despite the time pressure, we wanted to make sure that... the whole process is robust such that we can give users the best experience," said Mr Nathan.
It involves logistics company Alliance 21 and Seo Eng Joo Frozen Food, which will manage the freight forwarding and last-mile delivery aspects. Cross-border transactions will be supported by United Overseas Bank.
The initiative is also supported by the Infocomm Media Development Authority, Singapore Food Agency and Enterprise Singapore.
Another pain point SGeBiz seeks to address is that of high commission fees - reportedly as much as 35 per cent for each order - charged by food delivery platforms.
In a tie-up with NinjaOS, F&B operators that sign up for EzyProcure will get a year's subscription to NinjaOS for free. With NinjaOS, food establishments can create their own app for delivery orders, meaning they will no longer have to pay commission charges. NinjaOS will take care of the food deliveries. However, this offer is limited to the first 125 applicants.
