Jonathan Lim, founder and CEO (CEO) of Oddle, was a meals and beverage proprietor.
Opening his restaurant, The Garden in 2011, he has over 13 years of expertise within the meals and beverage (F&B) and expertise business, together with a one-year stint with the Nationwide College of Singapore’s (NOC) Nationwide Abroad Faculty (NOC) program ( NOC) in Silicon Valley.
As a meals and beverage proprietor, he has discovered many loopholes within the business that trigger challenges for him and different F&B homeowners. Though there are various digital platforms to work with to supply a better and extra complete expertise for his or her clients, they are often overwhelming, and the restaurant homeowners themselves don’t have a lot management or profit from the companies.
Confronted with related points like an unattainable six-figure quota attempting to construct a web-based ordering web site for his restaurant, Jonathan determined it could be a a lot wanted change within the business.
then began a stranger In 2014, a complete platform targeted on serving to meals and beverage homeowners digitize their companies by enabling them to construct a sustainable on-line ordering platform themselves, together with co-founders Alan Goh and Yong Xiang Bua.
[W]He quickly realized that the one sustainable enterprise mannequin is one which advantages all events. When our F&B retailers win, we win collectively. Thereafter, we continued to develop a one-stop store to satisfy all of the digital wants of our meals and beverage companions, all of which concerned no set-up prices, together with offering skilled value-added companies similar to advertising and marketing.
– Jonathan Lim, Founder and CEO (CEO) of Oddle
Combining empathy and expertise, Oddle fills a spot within the market by offering low-cost, extremely accessible, performance-driven options that assist F&B homeowners develop their operations with good knowledge and significant engagement.
Why is digitization wanted?
Jonathan stresses that it’s essential for eating places to have a web-based to offline (O2O) technique in in the present day’s occasions.
Jonathan highlights that utilizing on-line companies to unravel their issues and re-engage with customers “ensures the sustainability of the restaurant enterprise by altering client habits and mitigating the financial impression of the pandemic.”
As a way to keep related, Jonathan encourages F&B homeowners to develop and broaden their enterprise not solely by researching eating options, but additionally by integrating different income streams positioned exterior the premises. By permitting clients to entry precious buyer knowledge and insights, they are often smarter and simpler at driving their enterprise sustainably into the longer term.
“The largest problem for a lot of meals and beverage operators is to distinguish their higher buyer base because of the fragmented knowledge channels brought on by many platforms,” he provides.
Oddle goals to resolve these considerations, by empowering these enterprise homeowners who could also be involved about digital transformation, and providing an easy-to-use platform for all their digital wants, from a holistic view of orders and funds to the supply of synthetic intelligence (AI) and analytics for his or her advertising and marketing functions.
Digitization companies are totally different
Oddle runs an “All the time Restaurant First” philosophy, which differentiates itself from its opponents.
“Not like meals marketplaces like Deliveroo or Foodpanda, Oddle presents options that give F&B retailers full management and transparency of their enterprise and buyer knowledge, guaranteeing most return at minimal prices,” notes Jonathan.
With a mission to empower eating places to take cost of their future, Oddle presents a multi-channel platform that helps eating places ship first-class experiences and interactions to their clients.
Its suite of expertise options consists of a web-based retailer platform with managed supply logistics, a reserving and QR ordering platform, and cost terminals. All of those companies are simple to navigate and use, making it simple for restaurant homeowners to include them into their enterprise.
As well as, Oddle has three major companies that complement the system, similar to managed advertising and marketing companies, buyer success administration, and stranger eatstheir meals discovery platform that expands the restaurant’s attain to foodies throughout Asia by using Oddle’s database of two.3 million customers.
In comparison with different platforms that cost restaurateurs an rigid mounted worth, Oddle operates on a zero setup value mannequin, offering bookings at no further value and taking solely a minimal proportion on profitable gross sales.
“We additionally actively assist our retailers make investments again into their companies to extend profitability by our free data-driven advertising and marketing companies,” provides Jonathan.
With Oddle Assets, Jonathan highlights that eating places can even profit by having extra management over their on-line operations than different platforms that supply these digitization companies.
[O]The benefit over different platforms is that our companions have full entry to their clients’ knowledge. That is of central significance to all F&B operations, as nothing is extra essential to their enterprise than KYC ([Knowing] your buyer).
– Jonathan Lim, founder and CEO of Oddle
Connecting its business success with its retailers, Oddle stands firmly on the precept of “All the time Eating places First”, offering reasonably priced options in a clear, results-based format. This enables every meals operator and operator to realize most income on the lowest attainable value.
Struggling to modify to income sharing mannequin
Again in 2014, Oddle’s unique enterprise mannequin relied on a subscription mechanic to assist the meals and beverage business undertake digital options for abroad supply and processing. Their model brand was a mouse, symbolizing how eating places can generate gross sales with a single click on.
Though this contributed to their business success, Jonathan realized that their mounted subscription mannequin contributed to the issue the place restaurant homeowners or F&B operators face complicated processes and fixed-cost subscription charges to combine companies similar to supply, quick meals, on-line shops, reservations and extra into their companies, To not point out the difficulties of getting to handle a number of companions as nicely.
As such, Oddle moved towards a income sharing mannequin in 2019, whereas guaranteeing its monetary sustainability is intently linked to the success of its companions. This main transformation helped break the mildew whereas staying near their roots within the business.
Selecting to desert our profitable preliminary enterprise mannequin and swap to the present merchant-aligned mannequin was one of many greatest challenges we needed to face, as a result of that meant we had been giving up a safe and steady supply of earnings, and it was a extremely onerous factor for us to do.
However we felt it needed to be achieved as a result of the mounted subscription payment doesn’t encourage us to make our efforts to make sure that our companions prosper, as a result of they are going to pay us the identical regardless of how nicely or poorly they carry out.
– Jonathan Lim, founder and CEO of Oddle
Throughout the pandemic in 2020, the brand new enterprise mannequin led to vital good points because of the surge in on-line deliveries from the pandemic, which helped many eating places rework their enterprise inside 24 hours.
“[W]e has benefited from the deteriorating bodily panorama of meals and beverage by guaranteeing that corporations transfer nicely into the web realm,” notes Jonathan.
Though the pandemic has been happening for a number of years, Oddle has been trying to the longer term and has sought to anticipate the challenges in a post-pandemic economic system by growing its full suite of complete on-line to offline options to show the longer term development of its F&B companions. within the area, which additionally helped guarantee Oddle’s continued business viability.
These options embrace making reservations in preparation for the return of the eating crowd, and offering cost terminals for shops underserved by conventional cost suppliers.
experiencing exponential development
To this point, Oddle’s Gross Merchandise Quantity (GMV) has grown from S$30 million in 2019 to S$200 million in 2021. Its income has additionally elevated greater than 10 occasions throughout the identical interval and is now “capital environment friendly”.
Jonathan highlights that these numbers remained sturdy within the first half of 2022, at the same time as COVID restrictions had been within the midst of being lifted.
As pandemic measures ease and Oddle expands their product stock, they’ve seen a rise within the attraction to their cost terminals, serving to to climate the slight decline in GMV supply.
On their journey to supply full O2O options to F&B companions, Jonathan shares that 430 retailers utilizing Oddle’s reservations options have already achieved a formidable 150,000 caps, whereas 350 new retailers have linked the Oddle and takeaway house.
One such success story is Pizza Specific. Initially, it offered its clients with desk orders, in-store funds, reservations and supply in quite a lot of methods throughout fragmented and dear platforms.
Jonathan highlights “We acknowledged the chance to simplify these knowledge contact factors by our omnichannel companies, enhancing the profitability of Pizza Specific to realize larger supply margins from optimized supply settings.”
With Oddle, Pizza Specific was supplied with simple, complete entry to our strongest CRM database with up-to-date supply and eating knowledge, leading to a 23 % discount in hours and a big enhance. Annual financial savings of S$50,000.
simply final month, Oddle raised $5 million in pre-series B tour, bringing its whole funding to greater than US$12 million (S$16.78 million). With this newest spherical of financing, it plans to spice up product growth and broaden into the regional market in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
In accordance with Jonathan, some elements of Oddle — similar to takeaway, QR ordering and reservations — are deliberate to penetrate new markets with the self-service mannequin.
“This 12 months, we’ll proceed to maneuver ahead with our ‘All the time Eating places First’ philosophy and delve deeper into offering extra options for F&B retailers,” he provides.
Featured Picture Credit score: Oddle